Tim McG

Just beat down the Yonkers and all is right with the world.

Go Mariners! Death to dodger Blue!

Wasn't the US Open already won by Angel Cabrera?

Go Division I-AA!

College Football pre-season polls: AP Top 25 1. USC (62) 0-0 1,622 2. LSU (2) 0-0 1,511 3. West Virginia (1) 0-0 1,396 4. Texas 0-0 1,375 5. Michigan 0-0 1,371 6. Florida 0-0 1,276 7. Wisconsin 0-0 1,192 8. Oklahoma 0-0 1,166 9. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,148 10. Louisville 0-0 1,031 11. Ohio State 0-0 876 12. California 0-0 790 13. Georgia 0-0 782 14. UCLA 0-0 605 15. Tennessee 0-0 571 16. Rutgers 0-0 560 17. Penn State 0-0 542 18. Auburn 0-0 519 19. Florida State 0-0 392 20. Nebraska 0-0 377 21. Arkansas 0-0 376 22. TCU 0-0 283 23. Hawaii 0-0 256 24. Boise State 0-0 187 25. Texas A&M 0-0 162 USA Today Poll 1. USC (45) 0-0 1,481 2. LSU (4) 0-0 1,372 3. Florida (9) 0-0 1,278 4. Texas 0-0 1,231 5. Michigan (2) 0-0 1,218 6. West Virginia 0-0 1,205 7. Wisconsin 0-0 1,114 8. Oklahoma 0-0 1,026 9. Virginia Tech 0-0 1,005 10. Ohio State 0-0 919 11. Louisville 0-0 836 12. California 0-0 763 13. Georgia 0-0 604 14. Auburn 0-0 595 15. Tennessee 0-0 583 16. Rutgers 0-0 466 17. UCLA 0-0 454 18. Penn State 0-0 440 19. Nebraska 0-0 388 20. Arkansas 0-0 360 21. Florida State 0-0 301 22. TCU 0-0 233 23. Boise State 0-0 222 24. Hawaii 0-0 214 25. Texas A&M 0-0 209 I gotta say I am suprised to see Rutgers, Boise State and Hawaii even mentioned. Excluding Rutgers of course, the WAC is one weak conference. I'm pullin' for Wisconsin and UCLA

Yeah, Gagne and Tavarez must be the two biggest a-holes on any team's roster ever. Wait a minute - didn't Tavarez play with one Barry Lamar Bonds? Well, second place on that list isn't too bad. Yeah, well the Giants got smart and dumped his sorry ass. Sorry you guys got him. Tavarez: Cuddly, Cheat or Crazy? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brian Walton TheSTLCardinals.com Sep 11, 2005 History demonstrates that Julian Tavarez’ beanball delivered to the side of Mike Piazza’s head on Saturday night is not some isolated incident. Julian Tavarez is probably loving it. Turning himself into the center of attention of the New York Mets by throwing a pitch into the side of Mike Piazza’s head Saturday night. After all, how dare Piazza hit a home run in his first at-bat back from the disabled list? As a result, Piazza went looking for Tavarez after the game, but had to settle for meeting with Tony La Russa instead. And yes, Tavarez is probably loving turning himself into the center of attention for adoring Cardinal fans by collecting his 30th hold of the season, second most in all of Major League Baseball, just a few short minutes later. Well, I don’t love it. The good that is associated with Julian Tavarez seems always to be overshadowed by the bad. Those who choose to defend Tavarez point out that he is a sinkerball specialist and now and then pitches can and do get away from every hurler. Those who are concerned only with winning point out that Tavarez is the kind of player who opponents hate, yet you want to have on your side. I don’t buy that, either. That same description could be used for pesky leadoff man David Eckstein, yet he earned that label by his hard play and is respected for it, not despised. I continue to struggle with accepting the fact that Tavarez is really a Cardinal, despite the uniform he wears. Instead, I view him as a mistake. I can only hope that with his initial two-year contract up at the end of the season, that he does not return to St. Louis in 2006. I just don’t believe this man deserves to be a Cardinal. And, the recent problems he’s caused are just the tip of a very large iceberg. Julian Tavarez Carmen is no child. He is 32 years old and has been in the majors for over eleven years now. There is a long list of Tavarez’ former teams, most of whom grew weary of him for some very good reasons. He has a considerable history of disciplinary actions having been taken against him, many of which involve throwing at opposing hitters. Let’s look back on some specific, selected actions from the past. Perhaps MLB and its disciplinarian Bob Watson are repeatedly and unfairly picking on an innocent, misunderstood man or more possibly, Tavarez is a notorious and repeated headhunter and nut case. So, you decide for yourself. Is the man is cuddly, crazy or a cheat? Or, is he all three? Cuddly – 1995 20-year old Julian Tavarez first appeared in 1993 and his big break on the major league scene came as the fireballing hurler played a key role for the 1995 American League Champion Cleveland Indians. The Dominican captured the fancy of America because the only English word he knew was “chicken”. Soon enough, Tavarez learned the language so well that he would conduct interviews himself. Crazy - 1996 It didn’t take long for things to go wrong. Tavarez apparently selected the wrong role model in Cleveland. In 1996, defending teammate and one of the most disciplined players ever, Albert Belle, led Tavarez to his first suspension. It was for body-slamming an umpire. Of course, from Julian’s perspective, it was an unfortunate accident. Belle was angry at getting hit by a pitch. He took it out via a forearm to Milwaukee Brewers’ second baseman Fernando Vina’s face. After Belle and Tavarez spoke between innings, Tavarez threw behind Brewers’ catcher Mike Matheny, who charged the mound. In the melee that followed, umpire Joe Brinkman grabbed Tavarez from behind and was thrown to the turf. Tavarez insisted he didn’t know it was an ump, but still served five games. Crazy – 1998 By now, Tavarez had been shipped to the San Francisco Giants. In a September, 1998 game, Tavarez took exception to ball four call by throwing his glove to the turf and yelling at the home plate umpire. He flung his cap toward home plate and headed toward the ump, wildly gesturing. Manager Dusty Baker had to pull Tavarez away from his chest-to-chest bumping of the ump, Sam Holbrook. A three-game suspension ensued. Crazy – 1999 After allowing six runs in an outing against Oakland, Tavarez drilled catcher Mike Macfarlane in the back with a pitch. As Macfarlane was lying on the ground in pain, Tavarez stared down A’s manager Art Howe until Baker had to come out and remove Tavarez from the game. Crazy - 2001 Tavarez had been waived by the Giants and passed through Colorado before moving on to the Cubs. He quickly fit right in, fighting with Giant Russ Davis, and inciting a bench-clearing brawl - during a spring training game! Tavarez took a flying kick at Davis, who had charged the mound after taking exception to what he felt was Tavarez taunting him after a strikeout. Five more games on the pines for Julian. Crazy – 2001 Before Tavarez could serve the above suspension, his Cubs team had an April series in San Francisco. The Giants fans gave him a hard time and instead of turning the other cheek, Tavarez yelled back. Among his on-the-record comments about his former teams’ fans was a John Rocker-esque declaration that “they are a bunch of a-holes and faggots.” Bud Selig called the comments “reprehensible”. Tavarez justified it in his mind by complaining that the fans threw eggs at him. The only additional punishment meted out was that Tavarez was ordered to undergo sensitivity training. Cuddly – 2001 On the bench in Chi-town, Tavarez poured rubbing alcohol onto a towel, which he wiped on his head in an apparent attempt to remain cool. However, he may have gone too far when he slipped behind no-nonsense manager Don Baylor and shoved the smelly towel under Baylor’s nose. Tavarez was soon traded to Florida. Cuddly – 2002 In a close game while pitching for the Marlins, Tavarez stepped into the batters box against Colorado’s Mike Hampton. Oddly, the right-hander came up as a left-handed hitter. He swung and missed at the first pitch before moving to the other side of the plate, from where he promptly blooped an RBI single. Crazy – 2003 Now with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Tavarez came out of the bullpen to escalate a fight that was in the process of cooling off between Tampa Bay’s Marlon Anderson and Tavarez’ teammate Jason Kendall. Tavarez admitted to throwing punches, but accused an unidentified Tampa player of choking him from behind. Seems like it is a bad idea to come up behind him. A three-game suspension ensued. Crazy – 2003 Still angry over an incident where they feared a Tavarez pitch had broken the arm of first baseman J.T. Snow, Giants manager Felipe Alou mentioned what to that point had been an unspoken assumption – that Tavarez has a history of beaning ex-teammates. Crazy – 2003 After Tavarez hit him with a pitch, Atlanta Braves outfielder Gary Sheffield glared while slowly walking to first. He carried his bat the entire 90 feet and only gave it up upon reaching the first base bag. Cheat - 2003 In a signal of problems to come, later that season, Alou strongly intimated that he knew that Tavarez was wearing a cap with pine tar on it. Alou did not publicly press the matter, however. Cheat – 2004 Despite repeated warnings about his practice of keeping pine tar on his cap, Tavarez continued to flaunt the rules – until Lloyd McClendon’s Pittsburgh Pirates called him on it. Despite Tavarez having thrown the evidence, his dirty cap, into the stands, he was served with a ten-game suspension handed down by Watson. Crazy – 2004 In the NLCS, Tavarez is quoted as saying the Astros aren’t that special and then fired a pitch up near Jeff Bagwell’s head. That generated a bench clearing and a fine for Tavarez. In a childish fit of rage, Tavarez breaks his hand on a bullpen phone, damaging his team’s World Series aspirations. In closing It remains to be seen what the ramifications of Tavarez’ most recent actions will be in terms of his relationship with his manager, teammates and the Mets, let alone Watson and the MLB disciplinarians. But it is clear that with Tavarez, nothing will change as a result. Upon signing with the Cardinals in the 2003-2004 off-season, Tavarez spoke fondly of his time in Pittsburgh. He made it clear he preferred to stay there, but the Cardinals offered twice the salary. If it were up to me, I’d do everything possible to make sure he takes a nice, big, fat offer to return there in 2006. Being quietly banished from St. Louis can happen. Just ask Steve Kline. I've said it before and I will say it again. In my book, Julian Tavarez doesn’t deserve to be a Cardinal and never has. Hell, he didn't deserve to be a Giant, either. What a friggin' LOSER. I feel your pain, Dan

Help me understand something here: Why do the BoSox have Julian Tavarez and Gagne on the pitching staff? I mean, was the pitching that sparse that they needed to go out and get two of the biggest a-holes on this or any other planet? Just ask a Giants fan what they think of Tavarez and you'll get an earful...Gag-me, too. Ack

Barry Bonds: An All-American Baseball Hero.

Jealousy will get you nowhere. The best there ever was, right here, Boyz:

BTW, I hate Gag-ne, too....but for obviously different juiced up reasons. Go BoSox! Death to the Yonkers!

Um. As a Speech and English teacher, I can help you with your limited vocabulary, Dan.

Great book, bad poster.

Cat Stevens Redd Foxx Snoop Dog Snoopy Charlie Brown Lucy Van Pelt Lucy Arnaz Lucille Ball Ricky Ricardo

Cat Stevens Redd Foxx Snoop Dog

What I Like About You- The Romantics Back in Black- AC/DC Down Under- Men at Work

Cole Porter Porter Hall Hall Daniels Charlie Daniels Charlie Musselwhite Charlie Brown

Mediocrity? Your league is mediocre. Your team is .001 percentage points away from being WORST in the league. Keep dreaming of the day you attain "mediocrity". Giants are definately the bottom feeders of the NL, no doubt....but I seem to remember the Red Birds winning the 2006 World Series. Percentage points don't mean diddly.

A.J. Pierzynski Carl Yazstremski Dizzy Gillespie

Dick Howser Dick Cheney Dick Van Dyke

This should be just too cool! Source:Presid Meteor Shower

Jim Fregosi Jim Palmer Jimmy Piersal

Joanna Joan Jett George Jetson

Oh shock of shocks. Giants lose again. Zito disappoints yet again. Is there no end to the mediocrity? Gaaa!

So! How are those anger management classes going, eh? Whoa

If you can accuse one, you can accuse them all. Can you see where all this foolishness is taking us, Dan? Time to wake up and smell the coffee.