That just broke my heart.

17 batters were left stranded on base.

Sigh.

Glam rock and Creole tomatoes

As D. and I were getting ready for work this morning (and enjoying our new haircuts - I have almost 4" less!), I couldn't get this song out of my head, so please enjoy the hairtastic, uberglam gloriousness of The Darkness.




Seriously, the lead singer, Justin Hawkins, possesses an almost Freddie Mercury-esque vocal range.

In other news:

The College World Series begins this weekend.

Ray Nagin is still a tool.

The Creole Tomato Festival, as well as the Cajun/Zydeco and Louisiana Seafood Festivals, will take place this weekend.

Oh, and Buster Posey yet again pwns you.

Buster Posey pwns you, part III.

FSU is going to Omaha for the College World Series, despite a jhorts-wearing, pornstache-sporting FSU fan who nearly changed the course of the game. (Steve Bartman, did you REALLY take Jeb Bush up on his offer for amnesty?!)

In honor of that, here's something I shamelessly borrowed from adapted Chuck Norrisisms on Warchant.com.

If you have five dollars and Buster Posey has five dollars, Buster Posey has more money than you.
There is no 'ctrl' button on Buster Posey's computer.
Buster Posey is always in control.
Apple pays Buster Posey 99 cents every time he listens to a song.
Buster Posey can sneeze with his eyes open.
Buster Posey can eat just one Lay's potato chip.
Buster Posey is suing Myspace for taking the name of what he calls everything around you. Buster Posey can kill two stones with one bird.
When Buster Posey calls 1-900 numbers, he doesnt get charged. He holds up the phone and money falls out.
Buster Posey once ate a whole cake before his friends could tell him there was a stripper in it.
When Buster Posey falls in water, Buster Posey doesn't get wet. Water gets Buster Posey.
Buster Posey CAN believe it's not butter.
Buster Posey can divide by zero.
Buster Posey knows the EXACT location of Carmen SanDiego.
When taking the SAT, write "Buster Posey" for every answer. You will score over 800.
Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee. Except Buster Posey.
Buster Posey ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.
It only takes Buster Posey 20 minutes to watch 60 Minutes.
Buster Posey has a deep and abiding respect for human life... unless it tries to steal second.
Tim Tebow wears Buster Posey pajamas.
Buster Posey can slam a revolving door.
Helen Keller's favorite color is Buster Posey.
Buster Posey actually built Rome in a day.
'Icy-Hot' is too weak for Buster Posey. After a workout, Buster Posey rubs his muscles down with liquid-hot MAGMA.
Buster Posey recently had the idea to sell his urine as a canned beverage. We know this beverage as Red Bull.
Buster Posey doesnt do push-ups, he pushes the Earth down.
Buster Posey does not use spell check. If he happens to misspell a word, Oxford will simply change the actual spelling of it.

And finally....Buster Posey can touch MC Hammer.

With the 5th pick in the draft...

...the San Francisco Giants select Gerald D. Posey from Florida State University.

I was getting worried there - MLB.com was speculating that Buster's advisor was demanding $12 million for Posey, which made a lot of teams shy away from him. Some were projecting a Brady Quinn-like fall in the draft, but hey, I'll take No. 5!

All that aside, I really hate the Giants.

Buster Posey pwns you, part deux.

In honor of today's draft:





Good luck today, Buster!

Behold, the power of Fudge!

Whilst celebrating his birthday at the Palace Saloon, Fudge issued a stunning diatribe on the racism inherent in the sheer name of Ying's Chinee Takee Outee (in Jacksonville, off University and I-95), and in the process created a killer Short Round impression.

Tallahassee: a story of pizza and sunscreen.

D. and I had a most eventful (whooo, tire blowout at 1:30 a.m.!) trip to Tallahassee this past weekend for the NCAA Regionals. Mainly it was a nice break from everything that's going on with my mother (things aren't good, and no, I don't want to elaborate).

We stayed with my brother (thanks, Mike!), hung out with our friends Chris and Rebecca (and Fudge, Lynne, and Toker), and met some new rabid FSU fans. We enjoyed watching Florida go 0-2, and we enjoyed chatting with the visiting Bucknell and Tulane fans (who were very cool).

But mostly, while I enjoyed watching FSU decimate Tulane on Sunday night, D. spent his 9 innings daydreaming about the joys of Momo's.

Yes. Momo's. Where pizza slices are ginormous and your stomach hates you for the next 4 hours.
THAT Momo's. D. ordered a daring two slices - but could he finish them?

Given that D. is fairly skinny, I'm not sure where he lodges two slices' worth of Momo's - I'm assuming at this point that my fiance has four stomachs, which is remarkable, given that I'm fairly sure that his brother has 6-8 stomachs (I'm pretty jealous/impressed with D.'s brother's ability to inhale food).

But by George, he accomplished quite a feat...one that can only be likened to:

(ZIGGY PIGGY!)

It was an interesting and occasionally illuminating weekend. That said, geaux Noles!

Shockin' the world!

Tally was...interesting. The Noles pulled out the regional win over Tulane last night - which was a tremendous relief.

Next up? The Shockers of Wichita State!

(Shockin' the world, y'all...)

I'm in a weird mood today, so I'll just give you a little weird Death Cab for Cutie.

Tally Ho!

So last weekend D. and I hit up the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience. NOLA, one of Emeril's local restaurants, scored big with a pound cake with a Barq's root beer glaze (don't think I won't be looking for that recipe!), and lots of different vineyards were represented.

Much fun - and champagne - was had by all. Better yet, we saw this:

We also were fortunate enough to see our friend T., who was in town for a bachelor party. Mmmm, bell pepper rings and peanut butter pie at Franky and Johnny's. Mmmmmmmmmmmm.

On Sunday we turned our living room into Indy headquarters and watched all three Indiana Jones films before traipsing over to the Prytania to watch Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. (WTH was up with the monkeys? Cate Blanchett's "Rocky and Bullwinkle" accent?)

This week has been insanely busy, but last night marked the beginning of four days of baseball. Last night was Jewish Heritage Night at the Zephyrs, and more the 170 members of the local Jewish community headed over to Zephyrs stadium for a double-header, $1 beer and kosher hot dogs.

Out of respect for the several orthodox rabbis sitting behind us, we contained our craving for the pork-laden Pig Nachos. Sigh.

Tonight we're heading to Tallahassee for the NCAA Baseball Regionals. Tulane, UF, Bucknell and FSU will be facing off in the 26th NCAA regional that the Seminoles have hosted.

Go Noles! FSU friends, we'll see you in the morning at Publix when we pick up our tailgating supplies.

Buster Posey pwns you.

From AOL sports:

College athletics are fun because you always see players being ridiculously versatile. But Buster Posey, a Florida State baseball player (what position I have no idea to attach here), took things to a whole new level last night. He played all nine fielding positions. In one game.

In case you think I'm kidding about Buster Posey, well, I'll point to the Orlando Sentinel's awed column about his prowess:

First he played catcher. Then first base. Then second base. Then shortstop. Then third base. Then left field. Then center field. (Where are we now? OK -- seven positions so far.) Then he pitched. Then he played right field.

Oh yeah. In addition to playing all nine defensive positions on Monday night, Buster Posey also hit a grand slam during Florida State's 10-0 victory against Savannah State.

So all in all, not too bad a night, eh?

Posey, a leading candidate for every college baseball player of the year award there is, became the fourth Seminole to play all nine positions during a single game -- and first since Mike Martin Jr. did it during an FSU victory against Furman in 1994.

So...yeah, if Posey isn't voted college player of the year it will be a distinct travesty. This kid will at minimum be a top-ten draft pick, after all.

Go Noles!

FSU downs UF 4-2

That's right - FSU took this year's baseball series 2-1 tonight with a 4-2 win over the Gators.

It's Rivalry Week, which can only mean we're facing Miami this weekend - which makes us probably the most compelling matchup of the week.

Despite the evilness of Sun Sports and FSN (please see my previous post on said topic), a friend has hooked me up with an amazing opportunity to watch the FSU-UM series online.

(This of course means that he'll be getting an especially kickass wedding gift in a few months.)


Go Noles!

A pox on you, FSN and Sun Sports!

Riddle me this, people.

How is it that #1 Miami is slated to take on #2 Florida State at the end of the month in a three game series in Tallahassee - and there's NO TV coverage whatsoever?

Grrr.

Submitted without comment...

Behold the Forcefield of Cute!

So cute are the monsters that we took them to the levee this morning to let them off their leashes. They romped around and Jake - prissy brat that he is - even jumped into the Mississippi to play with some other dogs.

As we were leaving, we saw hundreds of dogs and thousands of people crowding Audubon Park for today's LSPCA Event, "Dog Day Afternoon." Funnily enough, a year ago yesterday D. and I participated in the Broward Humane Society's "Walk for the Animals" in Ft. Lauderdale.

My, how time flies...

Mmmkay, back to obsessing over Game 2 in the FSU-UVa series (Baseball America predicted that the Cavs would wipe the floor with us, and we're locked in a 2-2 pitcher's duel in the bottom of the 10th.)...

Kicking off Friday on a happy note!

No. 20 FSU begins conference play tonight against Maryland. Sadly, I won't get to watch the series, but I WILL be checking out No. 19 UC Irvine at No. 22 Tulane.

Go 'Noles!

Notes from the Press Box

Tonight D. and I took the streetcar uptown to attend Tulane's first game at Turchin Stadium since 2005. And boy, what a view. I drafted some very stream-of-consciousness thoughts throughout the game, and here they are, be they jumbled or (hopefully) lucid.

•The game got off to a late start due to the celebration that included fireworks and Grammy winner Irma Thomas belting out the national anthem. The atmosphere at Turchin is nothing short of electric tonight. Once Shooter Hunt's first pitch crossed the mound, though, Tulane never looked back. Sure, fireworks are pretty, but so is a nasty curveball, right?

•Tulane looked a little jumpy early--but Shooter seemed to really get his bearing by the third inning.

•It's difficult to reconcile this Illinois-Chicago team with the team that upset Long Beach State in the 2007 Long Beach regional. To be fair, they have seven new position players and two new starting pitchers, but their veterans were even more concerning. Junior first baseman Brett Schaefer and junior catcher Kevin Coddington looked terrible for the first few innings. The fielding was horrendous for the Flames, and they had the errors to show it. It's only the first inning at this point, and Tulane is already out to a 4-0 lead. This is NOT the best start for UIC.

•Before I knew that Shooter Hunt's nickname comes from the eponymous "Hoosiers" character, I mused that either he was the most aptly named pitcher since FSU's Eddie Cannon...or his parents were really taken with "Happy Gilmore"'s Shooter McGavin. Fortunately, I was absolutely wrong on both counts.

•So, about the stadium...some might argue that the pretty chairbacks are the big draw. Others might argue that the fact that a seller walks around hawking beer is a sign of greatness. (I can't really argue that, as I'm still impressed that a college stadium sells beer.) Purists would no doubt point to the gorgeous turf or the crystal-clear, state-of-the-art scoreboard. Let's not take away from the nifty cupholders. As any Saints or Hornets fan will sagely note, it's unwise to take a quality cupholder at a sporting event for granted. I'm just sayin'.

•Seriously, though, the stadium is absolutely beautiful. Of course, it has the figurative "new car smell," but it's a wonderful addition to the Green Wave's baseball program. One thing of concern to me was that the grandstands only seemed about 85% full, while the bleachers were very full. To be honest, I expected a sellout. Here in the second inning, I'm wondering--are the amped-up ticket prices partially responsible? I hear that roughly 3,000 season tickets have sold, but as a NOLA.com commenter remarked earlier today, the single-game grandstand tickets are pricier than what you'll find at Zephyrs Field. Bearing that in mind, Tulane is dominating the error-prone Flames. While errors are common during the opening weekend every year--for every team--this just makes me wince.

•Hmmm...great musical choices so far. What's not to love about Guns n' Roses and the Rolling Stones? When I was in college, batters and pitchers had intro music. I guess I'm getting old, because that tradition seems to be nonexistent at Greer Field. Another curious thing: LSU put out a press release announcing their slate of 2008 bat girls. What's funny is that they apparently hold tryouts, and the competition seems almost Golden Girl tough. That's a decided contrast from Tulane's very laidback approach.

•Bonearama is playing at tomorrow's The Boys are Back in Town Block Party? If you're not a fan of funk and trombones, definitely plan on going to see former Tulane standout and American League president Dr. Bobby Brown throw out the first pitch at tomorrow's afternoon game.

•In the sixth inning, Tulane makes the very classy (and not at all unexpected) move of introducing and saluting their grounds crew. Very cool. And the crowd? Still loud and energized, despite no scoring since the bottom of the second.

•So it's the bottom of the sixth, and Flames pitcher Grant Kohlstaedt has...well...flamed out, leaving the bases loaded. There's a brief conference on the mound, set to The Chemical Brothers' "Galvanized." Ironic music choice, that, but a call to the bullpen is made, and in comes sophomore southpaw Don Phillis for UIC. Phillis made no appearances for the Flames in 2007, so it should be interesting to see what he does with ducks on a pond. Poor guy. I'm thinking he's a lamb to the slaughter. And down goes Seth Henry on strikes. While I'm rooting for Tulane, it's nice to see a kid get his first collegiate K. Prince singles and gets an RBI--man, Tulane already has TEN hits in this game! On Drew Allain's at-bat, UIC's Phillis gets nailed in the general vicinity of his intestines. Ouch. He recovers nicely to "Jesse's Girl" (I'm telling you, I'm loving the music choices), and is so apparently inspired by the immortal words of Rick Springsteen, he strikes Wave first baseman Sam Honeck out. Behold the power of the '80's, folks. But with two more earned runs on starting pitcher Kohlstaedt, his ERA is not off to a great start.

•The seventh inning strength. Egads. That was horrific.

•In the bottom of the seventh, the Flames make yet another pitching change. But Tulane is now up 6-0--they took control in the first inning, and never relinquished it.

•Illinois-Chicago's Steve McGuiggan fouls into the grandstand, and from my perch in the press box, I can hear the guys from AM 690 next to me chortling that the fan closest to the foul ball opted to save his peanuts instead of making a play for the foul ball. Heh.

•Wow--5,093 fans tonight! Great job, Wave fans. Keep it up--your energy is clearly motivating this team tonight.

•Here in the eighth, Turchin is more than half-empty.

•Jr. RHP Mason Griffin comes in for Tulane at the top of the ninth--he's TU's new closer, a transfer from Grayson Community College. Three outs later, I'm thinking UIC's got to be feeling hideous about getting shut out on opening night. Tulane should be feeling pretty great tonight--despite emotions running high, they settled down and got the job done in fantastic order, winning 6-0.

•So I hear more than 100 cars were parked on the Claiborne Ave. neutral ground tonight, and that virtually all of them were ticketed by the City at a cost of $75 per vehicle. Um, wow. I have things to say about that, but they're not very nice. Suffice it to say, I think it's unfair to Green Wave fans--it'll be a bit before the new parking lot is completed, and parking is already scarce. Ugh.

I'd say more, but I'm exhausted from my day sifting through the archives at the library and blogging college baseball. Tomorrow D. and I are going to sit through all five best picture nominees and try not to gorge on stale popcorn.

P.S. FSU's season opener against Duquesne was rained out tonight. Boooooo.

Fever Pitch

With the vast majority of college baseball teams beginning their seasons this Friday, I'd like to offer up this homage to my love of the sport:

http://blog.nola.com/feverpitch/


Yep, that's right. I'm blogging about my second-favorite sport. You can probably expect to see 4-5 entries a week. This week I'll be concentrating on season previews and ripping the NCAA a new one for backing up scheduling by a month.

(Please be gentle. Or not. Your call.)