This 'N That: The Revolution Grows

Fire Joe Buck, Part 2

Jester has joined the cause (look in the second half of his All-Star blog, all of which is a pretty good read). While Buck's calling of the all-star game wasn't quite as insipid as his calling of the Super Bowl, or as flat out nonsensically wrong as the guy sitting next to him (seriously, Mr. McCarver, what are you doing?? Stop now, preferably before the playoffs), it was still worthy of some anger. How this pair continues to get the privilege of calling the big games is absolutely a mystery to me.

Get John Gordon in there, that way every weak popup can be a home run, and every fielding play can be a fantastic one. Or get Dick'n'Bert in there, so that everything can be completely nonsensical and wrong without having to listen to Joe Buck be a douche.

Still Staying Positive

'Stay Positive', the 4th album from The Hold Steady came out on Tuesday, and as I hinted at last week, the result is a very solid CD. Retaining the same energy and wit from 'Boys and Girls in America', and adding a couple of new elements (harpsichord, Cars-style synthesizers, etc). There's not a weak track that I've heard after 5 or 6 listens. Sequestered in Memphis is catchy as song can be, and Slapped Actress might be the best closing song I've heard all year (dare you to not get the chills in the final minute). I'll say it again, it you like rock music, buy 'Stay Positive'.

Because This Post Needed the "Cockflickery" Tag

Congratulations to Justin Morneau for winning the Home Run Derby. Shame on ESPN for the worst coverage of an event in the history of space and time. We get it, Josh Hamilton was a great story, good for him. Plus, what he did in the first round of the derby was unbelievable. I saw a replay of the derby on Wednesday, and it still gave me the same chill. Truly an amazing achievement, but ESPN's coverage of the event was asinine. First Rick "Biggest Ego in Sports Journalism" Reilly was pissing and moaning about Morneau even being in the event. Fine. I suppose most people would've rather seen A-Rod, whatever (it does sort of make him look like an idiot, though).

Flash forward to after Hamilton loses the event. Morneau walks over to congratulate Hamilton, and the reporter walks up and right by the guy who just won the event. That's kind of cold, but Hamilton did just defy the laws of physics repeatedly with his home run shots, I guess he'd be the guy most would want to talk to. Then, the ceremony comes, where they clearly make a mistake and call Justin "Jason" (what, you can't remember the name of the guy who won AL MVP two years ago??) then comes the interview, where Morneau, being a class act, talks about how great Hamilton's night was, which is lucky, because that's all the reporter wanted to talk about, anyway. After about 30 seconds, the interview ends, and it's back up to the booth to whine about how Hamilton got slighted. I agree, the rules should be maneuvered a bit, and Hamilton probably should have won, but this was ridiculous. If you were to embark on a 26 mile marathon, and run the first mile in 4 minutes, no one would be all that sorry for you when you collapsed around the 3 mile mark. Hamilton tried to sprint when he should've paced himself. He was the story of the night, but ESPN made the thing out to be some sort of Greek tragedy.

Congratulations, ESPN staff (Rick Reilly in particular), you have all engaged in cockflickery of the highest caliber.