Walter Montego: I'm thinking Alex Rodriguez might be closing in in ten or less years. Ruth held the record a long time. Aaron what, 33 years? Let's see how long Bonds keeps it.
There's one record I didn't think would ever be broken, and Bonds did it. He broke the professional baseball season record for home runs. It was 72, set in the 30's I believe. Yes, in the minor leagues, but still 72. Somehow Bonds hit 73 homeruns in one season in the Major Leagues. I still have trouble believing it was done. Does anyone know what the professional baseball record for home runs is? Counting all pro leagues? For the league and also for an indidvidual player adding all of his pro league home runs together? Did the Japanese player, I think named Oh have over 800? Did Bonds hit any in the minor leagues?

After all, he got his 714 home runs in a lot less at bats than either of those guys. At one time Ruth was more than 300 home runs ahead of the second place guy. And Babe Ruth was a pitcher for most of his career with the Red Sox. Some of his pitching records (Yes, even in the World Series on the Red Sox, remember it was them that traded him to the the Yankees and began the Curse) held for a long time too. Bonds wasn't the first guy to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded. Ruth also would pitch and not bat ninth in the order either sometimes.

ustica tnp: The Bears better score some points as I doubt if their defense is going to keep the Colts from getting atleast 24 points. New Orleans did well until they got tired. The Colts won't be running out of gas late in the third quarter like so many teams did this year in close games that became one sided.

ustica tnp: I'm rooting for the Bears in the Super Bowl. I'm no fan of the Colts, though the Colts have a good team.

Ferris Bueller: Oh well, they both lost. I've been paying the people off. :(

Ferris Bueller: I like your thinking. I've been betting this way.

Ferris Bueller: As I always take the Pac-10 when they're supposed to play Ohio's conference in the Rose Bowl, I took Florida. Just five bucks as I was being sporting and just wanted to make the game interesting for bragging rights. And then five minutes before the kick off an old friend of mine calls me and asks if I want to bet on the game. I say, "Sure, but I already have five with Kenny with me taking Florida." He says, "No problem as I want Ohio." OK, how much? And he says twenty. So I bet him too. Then the kick off and Ohio State runs it back for a touchdown. I'm feeling like this ain't right, but the next possession evened things up 7-7, and then Florida took over the game. Now I have beer and money coming! :)

Ferris Bueller: It's flawed, alright. It's easy to fix. Take the "C" out of it and you have what it really is.

32-18 USC defeats Michhigan

rednaz23: That's bad! Will he be able to play next year?

The one I remember, though I didn't see it as they stopped replaying it, was Joe Theisman's compound leg fracture a few years ago. That had to be real bad. Football is a tough game.

rednaz23: Nah, I missed it. I was watching the Oakland-San Diego game. Raiders teased me by flirting with victory, but dropped another game. They're now 2 and 9. They suck this year. How bad is the break?

furbster: The same Raiders that were in the Super Bowl a few years ago, but you wouldn't know from the team they field now.

furbster:National Football League. The Raiders didn't even score yesterday losing 13 to 0.

They sure have fallen on hard times. :(

srnity: The Cardinals took the first game. Game 2 tonight.

boop2004: I'm rooting for Detroit too. Though I do like a few of the Saint Louis players that used to be on the Angels a few years ago.
Not Jeff Weaver though. HE was so bad this year before the Angels got rid of him he probably cost the Angels the division. Just his luck to take that 6.29 ERA and get on the Cardinals.

They didn't get to play each other in the playoffs as the Detroit Tigers defeated them both quite handily. Ain't that a shame? :) Bye bye A's. Maybe next year Yankees. Go Tigers! The National League is going down.

awesome: No Mets? As much as I hate the Oakland A's, can the Yankees beat them?

That's two in a row. I won't be going today for the series finale, but I will be watching it on television. It'd be nice to get the brooms out and sweep them. :)

6-5 Angels over the Yankees. A sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning ended the game. I'm going to tomorrow's game.

Go Angels! :)

awesome: The last quarter of it, but seven weeks is the other way to look at it. 162 games with 44 to play. By the 27th there'll be just 30 games to go and five weeks left, so I think it's safe to say the season is nearing the end.

I just got the billing for playoff tickets and the Angels aren't even in first place. That's how I know it's nearing the end of the season. Man, have they boosted the price since 2002.

John Lackey is pitching for the Angels the Yankees at 4 PM Pacific time. I believe the Yankees are starting Randy "The Unit" Johnson. IF so, it should be a good pitching match up. It'd be good if the Angels could win today as they've taken two of the first three games in the series. The Angels are the only team with a winning record against the Yankees since about 1996 and have defeated them twice in their two meetings in the playoffs. The Yankees come to Anaheim August 25th, 26th, and 27th. I'm looking forward to that series, along with three with Boston and four with Seattle. A good homestand. With the season nearing the end the games are almost getting to be must wins.

Cleveland spanked them hard yesterday 14-2. Hopefully they'll play better against New York in the four game series. They're going to need to. The season is starting to near the end and they're 3½ games behind Oakland. They haven't much chance for the wild card, so they'll need to take the division to make the playoffs. Two rookie starting pitchers and a few more on the field, I guess I should feel lucky they're even in the pennant race.

WatfordFC: I wish your cousin well. He must be a heck of a golfer to even make the roster. I hope he makes the cut. Maybe he'll get you a pass and you can watch and root for him in person. :)

How 'bout them Angels? Seven wins in a row. 12 of the last 13. A couple more and they might move into first place. It's too bad they started this run in last place, but at least they have started to win. Them losses were getting depressing. Especially after last year's first place finish.

I've been watching the Toronto Blue Jays games on Roger Sports Network while here in Alberta. They've been doing very well too. Lots of extra inning victories. I'm happy to see them defeating the Western Division rivals of the Angels. They swept Seattle on over the weekend and beat Texas last night. They'll have their hands full when they start a four game series with Yankees on Thursday. Go Jays! :) Go Angels!

Andre Faria: Bush is president. He has nothing to do with soccer games. I didn't vote for him and I'm not happy with a lot of his policies, foreign or domestic.

But what has that got do with some soccer game involving Ghana? And no matter how strongly you feel about it, Bruno Jesus had no business typing a sex act into his post on a public discussion board.

lukulus: I can see disliking certain Americans, but not all of us. And what has that got to do with soccer, anyway? Still, your reason for his behavior, whether or not logical, is probably it. This type of attitude towards sports is one of the main reasons I dislike national teams and sports. I'd rather have professionals and amateurs that play for themselves or a team without regard to what country they are from. Just like Major League Baseball is. And how 'bout the German guy on the Dallas Maverick's team? He's good, but I was rooting for Miami to win it. Teach Kobe and the Lakers a lesson about letting Shaq leave the team. Pat Riley coaching them too. Just like old times.

Bruno Jesus: And by the way, you should learn to spell better. Ghana is spelled like this. Sit in front of the tube watching the game and didn't even learn to spell the name of one of the teams? Why am I wasting my time?

And ain't this the same team that beat Czech Republic, this Ghana squad? I may not know soccer, but losing to worthy opponents is nothing to be ashamed of. Just doing some American bashing from the sound of it as you didn't rag on the Czech team for losing earlier.

Bruno Jesus: So. Who cares? I hate soccer, and I don't mind being American. In fact, I'm proud to be American. If you get your jollies off because of some stupid soccer tournament, then that's your thing. You don't need to disparage the overwhelming majority of Americans that could care less about some soccer tournament. It's just a game. You didn't take the time to read my earlier post, but that's how it is. A team is a team, it is not a country. This cup series just brings out the worst in you nationalistic type people. I hope the United States never plays in it again, but unfortunately I know they'll field another team the next time it comes around. As I said in the other post, our good athletes play other games. Just imagine what'll happen to your boasting if the United States ever does win at international soccer. It's your game, you ought to win at it.

Bruno Jesus: I'm not sure what to make of this last statement of yours. Soccer isn't what I'd call manly, especially if you're going to compare it to other sports that are popular in the United States or in other places.
Snowboarding, hang gliding, parachutting, extreme snow skiing, rodeo, motorcycle racing, and other less known sports are all more manly than soccer.

As far as team sport go, I'd say Australian Rules Football puts soccer to shame in that regard. No substitutions, 30 minute quarters, tackling allowed, no pads, and free flowing action just like soccer. Soccer gets it's name from Association Football. I believe this type of football (Soccer) was created for the express reason to have the participants not risk injury as can happen in real football games, like Rugby, American, Canadian, or Australian rules games. The pads you speak of actually make the game more dangerous as it increases recklessness while providing protection to some parts of the body. There's not too many soccer players that can survive playing American Rules football except for the place kickers, which I might add are usually called lots of disparaging names on their own teams even though place kicking is one of the most important ways of scoring in football. They come in and kick the ball for field goals and kickoffs. That's it. No tackling, no special teams, no blocking, no rushing, nothing but place kicking. Even the punter's job is more dangerous. Let alone if we talk about the quarterback or a running back. And who hasn't seen a wide receiver go up for a pass knowing he was going to get hit hard by the free safety and a few other defenders and marvelled at his composure and ability to make the catch? And the linemen! What a pounding they take blocking the defense on pass plays or rushes. These guy all weigh 250 to 350 pounds. Because American Rules football has breaks in the action after every play and free substitution, it means that fresh players come in during each play and the carnage continues. And what about the coaches and the plays themselves? This is what's fun about watching a real football game. Seeing if you'd agree with the coach's decision. Knowing what down it is, what the game situation is, and how you'd call the play if it was your decision.
None of this exists in soccer. Arguing over a ref's call or lack there of, soccer has this in it as does just about every other sport.

Americans like to argue about what shoud've been done and how. We like to bet on the outcome of a sporting event too. This is probably the largest interest soccer even holds here. Betting on it.

I've been reading the posts of soccer here, in the newspapers, and on television. It seems everyone complains about the officials and that's about it. All sports have that aspect. It's been a baseball tradition for years. OF course the United States team sucks at soccer, all our real athletes are playing real games. America's chance of winning is like when the Hockey team won in the Olympics against the USSR. Bunch of amateurs somehow pulled it out. Even our basketball team when the professionals weren't allowed in the OLympics would win almost evey game. And look what has happened since the professionals have been allowed to compete? I liken soccer to ice skating. It's all on the referees and judges. When's the next scandal coming?

It'll be a sad day for me if the United States ever does well in soccer on the international sports scene. Then it will be put on the front page of the paper and be the lead report on television. As it is now soccer actually gets some press. The professional soccer league is still playing it's regular season too. Which, if covered by a newspaper,
has it way in the back of the sports section. Even the NFL's player draft gets more press coverage than soccer does in the United States. This cup championsip will be going on after the U.S. drops out and I bet the executives that run ABC television will be wondering why or how they got duped into paying for the rights to broadcast something that no one is watching. THough I think the NFL is crazy for trying to expand American rules football around the world, maybe they're onto something.

Mike UK: The English speak a different language than the Americans.

Two countries seperated by a common language. :)

Czuch Chuckers: I've never heard anyone say nil when they mean zero when talking about a sports score. Who talks like that? 3-0. It's three-zero or three to nothing.

And what American would watch soccer anyway? Do you like soccer, Czuch?

Personally I dislike sports that breed nationalism. The Olympics are another sporting event that I avoid mainly because of this nationalism. Bring people together? It seems to divide and inflame people lots more than bring them together. Then there's a lot of politics, politicians, judges, and referee scandals.

That's what I like about Major League Baseball. If you're good enough to make the team, it doesn't matter where you come from. I either root for a player or a team, not a country, and I see nothing wrong with hoping that the Oakland Athletics lose every game. They're my team's rival in the division and that's how it is. Just like a Boston fan rooting for the Yankees to lose.

As for soccer in the United States, aside from where I live I doubt if it is even in the top 7 sports. Around here it's different because my city is over 70% Hispanic and over 50% recent immigrant. Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, Golf, NASCAR, Formula 1, Surfing, Beach Volleyball, Pro Wrestling, Horseracing, well maybe not surfing, but I bet the rest of them outdraw soccer. Why people get so worked up about guys kicking a ball around over and over never ceases to amaze me. There's got to be more to it than the actual game itself. I guess most people have a nationalistic pride even though it's a team and not their country. Plus, you throw in the underdog angle and an upset or two and there you have it. This World Cup series seems really strange as to how it's organized. Why do teams from small countries play against teams with such large populations? This is fair? Are players only allowed to play on the team that they are citizens of for the World Cup series, or can they play on any team? How often does a team from a small country in population advance to the finals? How did Trinidad and Tobago make it this far? I heard that basketball in the 1950's was held this way amongst highschools in a midwestern state (Illinois or Indiana, I'm not sure) and one of the smallest schools won the championship once. This can't happen in California highschools as they seperate the schools by the amount of attendance and have divisions for each class size. Besides the World Cup soccer championship, are there other leagues besides national teams? Does the Madrid team play some of the English teams in an orgianized league, say? Can an English player play on a German team besides the national team in the World Cup? As you can see I am not too sure of how the various soccer leagues and teams are organized. Baseball has quite a few different leagues around the world and various championships too. The Major Leagues are just one part of it all. Maybe the best players in the world play in the Major Leagues, but there's plenty of other places where baseball is played. Baseball is a lot harder to play and organize than soccer is. That is obviously a deterent to it spreading as fast as a simple to play and organize as soccer. Perhaps it is this simplicity to soccer that creates so much of its appeal? Soccer looks easy to play, but it's not. Baseball looks complicated and it is. Football and Baseball are the major spectator team sports in the United States and fans of each will sometimes point out the supposed superiority of their favorite sport over the over. I like both of them, but think baseball is the better game of the two. Here's plenty of people around here that will disagree with me on that and have trouble believing anybody would watch baseball when there's a football game on. What do we know in Southern California? The NFL left here in 1994 and there's no professional football around. Plenty of college football teams and tradition though. Considering this area has the second largest population of it in the United States, that must mean something.

I'm just rambling on here, but "nil," where'd you get that? Where are you from? Nil is a bid to take zero tricks in a couple of cards games that I know how to play.

Jim Dandy: Is he the player from the Angels? I didn't know they traded him, if so.

That's a good thing against the first place team. The American League Western Division is real weak right now. The Angels will be home tomorrow to play the Orioles and Twins for two three game series. It looks like the Blue Jays are in third place behind the Red Sox and Yankees. Detroit is blazin'.

Jim Dandy: Painful, yeah that describes it. The Blue Jays have been having their way with the Angels. That inning you speak is one that makes me wonder just how bad are things going to get? At least they won yesterday. After seven losses in a row it's nice to win one game.

Jim Dandy: Yeah, they screwed up letting Benji go. I don't know what they were thinking. They gave up on Glaus and traded him a couple years back, and this was after he won the MVP for them in the World Series. His replacement at Third Base is either hurt or in the minor leagues. Of course will fill in ther with Figgins, but Glaus hits a lot of homeruns and is a good Third Baseman. Benji, for as slow as he runs, is a great hitter. Especially when men are on base. Great Catcher too. I'm sure you enjoy having him on your team.

I bet they were extra motivated when playing the Angels! They probably pumped up the rest of the team talking about them too. Troy Glaus has the ring and trophy, so those guys will listen to him and want it too. Benji knows the Angels Pitchers better than anyone else at the moment, I'm sure that helps when playing against the Angels. And his brother is the Angel's Catcher! Yep, I'd expect the Blue Jays to play the Angels tough for a few seasons. They're in what's arguably the toughest division. If they think they have a chance, they're going to play almost every game as a must win.

Jim Dandy: Jeff Weaver comes to mind, but I'm not sure if it's tough luck for him. :(

By Sunday the rotation for the following series should be known and we'll see what's what.

awesome: The games are May 16th, 17th, and 18th. Is he due to pitch?

Jim Dandy: That series went well for the Blue Jays. Made the Angels look like easy pickings. Toronto will be in town next week. Perhaps we can return the favor?

Walter Montego: And it continued today. Thye lost to Oakland and now have lost five in a row. Ouch! :(
There's nothing like the pain of watching a 4 to 3 game at the start of the ninth with the home team losing by one run to having the visitors score 6 runs in the top of the inning.
They're on the road now, I hope they start to win soon.

Four losses in a row, the last three by one run. Hurting they are. Now in third place. Luckily no one else is currently doing much better in the division and it's early in the season still.

How'd the Red Sox/Yankees game go Monday?

Jim Dandy: It seems like when I was last in Canada in 2003 there were 9 teams in the CFL. Do I remember right? this Ottawa would make it 10 if I do. So it'll be 9 teams this year unless someone with money to burn shows up?

Jim Dandy: You're right, I had to scroll down to find it but she did type Nova Scotia and not Newfoundland for her residence. That's still way to the east of Alberta. She also said the CFL was doing poorly. You two are in conflict here, but you then say a team has folded? This is usually not a good sign for financial wellbeing. :) WHo won the Grey Cup last year? I think I can name a few of the teams. Roughriders, Argonauts, hmm, oh well that's it. :) Stampeders?

Do you think it'd be a good thing or a bad thing for the CFL if the NFL put a franchise in Toronto?

Jim Dandy: Maybe it's a Newfy expression? They're looking west. Until she posted that I had never heard anyone speak of a region in Canada called Central. Obviously there is a central Canada as there is a central United States, but there's no place called that here either.

I believe the Atlanta Braves were in the Division of the National League because they moved from Milwaukee. I have no idea why the didn't re-align the league then, but maybe it had something to do with established regional rivalries they wanted to preserve. As for the NFL, you got me why the Falcons were in the Rams, 49s, and Seahawks division. It just makes no sense. Maybe the same reason? Putting the Falcons in the East would mean having to move the Bears, Cowboys, or at that time the Saint Louis Cardinals into the Rams division? Now that each conference has 16 teams with four divisions of four teams, I guess things are as balanced as the NFL can make it. Of course they've started talking again about getting two teams for where I live. MLB has 16 teams in the National League and 14 in the American League. It's too bad the Expos had to move. I would've liked to see baseball add two teams. I suppose it's not practical because baseball can't have an expanded playoff system like the NFL. What they have now seems fairly good.

Jim Dandy: This sounds like the way they talk in Alberta. I never once heard anyone say something about heading east from Alberta to go to Central Canada. The United States is divided funny to someone that just looks at a map and does not know its history. Just why is the Mid West east of the Mississippi?

Both the NFL and MLB used to have some strange names for their divisions. Atlanta, Georgia was in the Western Division of the National League and the National Football Conference at one time.

Jim Dandy: At least it wasn't the dreaded two words; rotar cuff.

Rose: Your comment made me look it up as I had thought Labrador was a seperate province from Newfoundland. I also didn't realize that Nanavut was a territory, not a province. The Wiki page was interesting. I'm really surprised at our schools not teaching us about just a little more Canadian history aside from the war for independnce battles that the United States lost to the Brittish. It looks like the provinces formed a confederation quite different from the Unites States federal government. Secession is something that a province can do without a civil war! No wonder my relatives joke about Alberta joining the United States. :) Toronto is still in eastern Canada even if you are dividing the country into three parts. Ontario's a big place stretching east under Quebec. Why would a Canadian need to know the capitals of the U.S. states? I was never taught them all, though I can name at least twenty of them. Olympia, Salem, Sacramento, Carson City, Salt Lake City, Helena, Pierre, Springfield, Denver, Tallahassee, Montgomery, Austin, Raleigh, Albany, Montiplier (Sp), Wow, I don't remember the capital of Arizona! It surely isn't Phoenix, is it? Atlanta, Frankfurt, I'm not sure about these Honolulu, Memphis, Philadelphia, Charleston, Kansas City, and that still leaves more than half of them! I suppose I might have to get the map out again. I remember that our tenth grade was about a year behind the Canadian tenth graders in highschool on average. This is in the 1970s. With the American invasion of Canada fully in place, I imagine they've dropped to our level by now. :)

I remeber when I was fifteen and visiting my grandma in Southern Alberta. Some of the local kids wanted to play football and my cousin got me to play too. This was about two years before I realized football is not a game one should play if one wants to remain healthy in life! I mean tackle football. The other forms are nothing compared to it when it comes to how hard you can hit or get hurt. The NFL takes this to the extreme and I'm sure the padding helps, but I'd be surprised if many players last longer than three or four years. Australian Rules Football looks pretty rugged too and they don't have padding. Same with Rugby. The Canadian Football League is very similiar in concept to the NFL, but the rules of the game have some major differences.

Anyways, we go down to the field by the school to play some football. We pick teams and the others guys win the toss for the kick off. So we kick it off. A right high kick, and I immediately take off for where I think the ball is coming down and none of the other team's players block me! Right when the guy catches the ball I tackle him. This starts a big argument! Apparently in Canadian rules a kick receiver is allowed a five yard buffer zone for receiving the ball. No one told me and I was playing football the way I was used to it. I can't remember what we did about this, ah, little indiscretion, but we continued the game. Playing sandlot football is a whole lot different deal than organized leagues and teams. There's no referees, and usually the only markings on the field might be the goal lines or a tree or something to mark the out of bounds. Or you take off your shirts and use them to mark the boundaries. Of course there's no field goal posts and touchdowns and safeties are the only way to score. Except Canadian Football has another way to score that American Football doesn't, called a rogue. I learned about these later as we didn't count them in this game either. Since there's no markings and the teams usually only have five or six guys on a team, you have to change some of the rules. Like getting a first down. This is usually done by advancing the ball ten or more yards. In sandlot footbal we always did it by making the offensive team get a 2 or 3 forward pass completions. Then on fourth down the team would either punt the ball or go for a touchdown if they were close enough to the endzone.

Here it is third down and the other team is punting the ball! I'm thinking this is a different way to play football. Canadian football has only three downs instead of four in American football. The Canadian Football season is started earlier than American Football too. I was able to watch a game back then on television and my grandpa explained the different rules. 12 players on each side instead of 11, 2 men in motion before the snap. 25 yard deep endzones compared to our 10 yards. Our field is 120 yards long, the Canadian field is 160 yards. Big difference. They can be on the five yard line looking to score and still throw a twenty yard pass. Goal line to goal line is 110 yards compared to our 100 yards. The field is larger, but they only get three downs instead of four to make a first down. It's been many years since I've seen a Candian Football league game. I'll have to check it out again. I think my favorite football version is still Australians rules, but I've only ever seen two games of it and still have trouble trying to figure it out. A real wild and free flowing game that one is. No lines of scrimmages, so it's like soccer in that respect. It's a trip how the different versions of football from around the world have evolved.

Rose: I had just typed to Pedro that California has around 36,000,000 people in it and is smaller than Alberta. California has five Major League Baseball teams in it. Canada is down to one now. Somehow the area I live in Orange/Los Angeles/San Bernadino/Riverside counties has over 10,000,000 people in it and no NFL team. The Rams and Raiders left in the mid 90s.

I've always thought of Canada as west and east. You're the first one I've heard say there's a central. I'll have to get a map out and see where that part is. Years ago the Dodgers had a Single A team in Lethbridge, Alberta. I saw them there. From what I've been told, Canadians learn about the United States in school. When I went to school they never mentioned Canada except as some area way north of here. Someone will ask me where I'm going and I'll say "Alberta." This usually elicits a blank look and I can tell they haven't a clue as to where that might be. So of course I play it some more and say it's north of Montana instead of saying it's in Western Canada. You know what? There's plenty of Californians that don't know where Montana is either! I know all fifty states, but I can also name ten or eleven Canadian provinces and few Mexican states. I used to joke with people in Alberta that I was one of the few people from Southern California that knew where Alberta is.

Rose: The Expos moved to Washington D.C. right? That still leaves the Toronto Blue Jays. I thought Toronto is in Eastern Canada. I've only been to the three Western Provinces. Canada is a big place, though thinly populated. I think California has more people in it than all of Canada. Alberta is larger than California and it seems like my little County of Orange that I live in has more people in it than Alberta. 3,300,000 in something like 500 square miles.

Jim Dandy: Familiarity breeds contempt? Though I've seen the trouble from visiting Alberta. Someday I'll make it to Eastern Canada. Going to a ballgame is something I'll have to do when there. Is Quebec still part of Canada? :)

5-5 road trip. Detroit, Chicago, and Oakland for this homestand. You guys ever make it to the Red Sox game, or's that happening later in the season?