Happy Valley Doesn't Need the Death Penalty

Never in the NCAA's wildest dreams could they have imagined a scenario as horrifying the one that unfolded at Penn State. 

It's for precisely that reason that, despite Jerry Sandusky's 45 counts of child sex abuse convictions and a preponderance of evidence that Joe Paterno and high-ranking university officials withheld information on his crimes, the NCAA cannot and should not punish the Nittany Lions football program -- much less hand down the death penalty for which many are calling.

Bud Selig Wants to Do WHAT to the Home Run Derby?

The answer, if you've been paying attention the past few days to the furor sparked by Robbie Cano's being booed viciously by the Kansas City partisans during the Derby on Monday, is possibly institute a mandate that says the host team must have a representative in the event.

Okay, okay, so Selig isn't all of a sudden off on a wild crusade to change the rules of the Derby yet again - he merely said that Major League Baseball would "talk about this [potential rule change]."

The mere fact that there would be any kind of discussion on this, however, is simply ludicrous.

Roger and Me

I was at a Sox game two weeks ago or so with a buddy of mine when the subject of Roger Clemens' recent return to Fenway came up. For those of you who missed his appearance in the Monster Seats mere days after his acquittal on charges of perjury, check it out here. I'll wait until you get back.

...

Okay, so his reappearance at Fenway was the subject of a brief discussion, and we were talking about the reception the Rocket got - a mixture of cheers and boos, with the boos seemingly a little louder. I was about declare that I too would have booed Roger...but a funny thing happened on the way to my statement. I thought honestly about how I would react to seeing the guy in the same ballpark, displayed on the videoboard. And I realized something that I had never really given much thought to before.

Tim Lincecum and the Mystery of the Disappearing Velocity

Another Friday night/Saturday morning winding down from a late night at the office, and another day - well, week really - with nothing original. I apologize for the lack of posts this week, but I've been working my way through some data for an idea I've had for a while and it's taking some time. Hopefully the results are interesting enough to warrant the time I've spent on it.

That being said, here are the fruits of my labor from tonight.

While I'm at it, I should probably also link to my opinion on the Madden Curse and whether Megatron will fall victim to it. I did some research for that one ahead of time at home, which had the unfortunate byproduct of holding up my research for my current blog-specific project a bit.

Finally, I'll leave you with this wildly entertaining Seattle Mariners commercial, which I had linked to in my Lincecum article initially (I was comparing him to King Felix, who has also experienced a drop in velocity but not a massive decrease in performance), but eventually cut when I tossed out the Hernandez section.



By the way, that tan building visible between Eric Wedge and Larry, er, Felix beyond the right field fence? That's the Padres spring training offices/clubhouse/etc, aka where I spent my spring training class. The ad was shot at the stadium in the Peoria Sports Complex, which San Diego and Seattle share. Makes me a little nostalgic.

In the Name of Self-Promotion

It's a little late as I sit here unwinding after a late shift, so I've got nothing original for the day. What I think I'll do instead is link to my labor of love from today - an argument against the continued existence of the Home Run Derby.

That said, below are two quick things that I wanted to address in the article, but cut either because of length or flow considerations.

The Great Hambino

No, not this guy.



This guy.

Journalism Lesson #11 - Writing and Reporting

I've been sitting on two posts the last couple days, but they keep getting pushed back because I keep coming up with more timely ideas. They say waiting makes it better, right? Well, you'll find out eventually, hopefully tomorrow and then Friday.

While I'm at it and before I forget, I should probably just issue the blanket statement that the content on this blog are my own personal thoughts/opinions/viewpoints/etc., and in no way represent the thoughts/opinions/viewpoints/etc. of NESN. Since I'm an intern for them this summer, I should probably do my due diligence and make it clear that Stretch's Take is unaffiliated in every way from my work there. Save, of course, for when I link to any of my articles I think are particularly good or worth a read.