It's been a while since Burty Ballgame has made a appearance in the 64/60 web universe. But with all the action that has taken place over the last week or so the Beaked One feels that it is time to bring some sensibility to the events within the sports world......
Stepehen Strasburg begins his major league debut with a bang by striking out 14 Buccos on Tuesday Night. Not since Syd Finch has a pitcher been this hyped up. Unlike Finch though Strasburg was able to exceed those lofty expectations in his debut. The rookie standard for pitching was set by Dwight Gooden as a 19 year old in 1984. Gooden posted a K/9 total of 11.4 with 17 Wins a 2.60 a 1.07 WHIP and a lead leading 276 K. I find it hard to believe that Strasburg can top these totals or even come close to them. Strasburg will be a productive players this season but he will have growing pains at some point so expect a ERA in the 3.50 range with healthy K totals. On a side not should anyone come across an 1984 Dwight Gooden Topps Traded snag it for me. It has always been a card I have wanted to own. I have always had a place in my heart for the 1984 and 1985 Topps cards. Best looking card in the history of Topps along with 1987...........
I have never been a huge basketball fan and I haven't watched a full NBA game or even a partial game in over 5 years but I did have enough of a desire to flip the remote over to the Lakers and Celtics even if only for a brief moment. It is a true testament to the power of a classic rivalry........
For the sake of this "Old Cub" I hope the Orphans aren't even sniffing the Wild Card/Division come the trade deadline. If they are the Cubs will make a move to improve but I can't imagine any one player making this present club a legitimate threat to the Phillies or any team that has legit pitching. Lee/Ramirez/Soriano and company had a nice run but the window of opportunity has closed. A youth movement is the best remedy for that 101 year and counting drought. Castro, Colvin, Vitters, Cashner, and Soto are the best group of young players to come from the Cubs farm system since the late 80 produced Grace, Walton, and Dwight Smith........
For those Reds fans who doubt their stability shame on you. The Reds have a good lineup and although they don't have that shutem down ace they do have pitchers who can go out and give you 6-7 a night. Besides the Cardinals aren't' a powerhouse by any means and someone will threaten them within the division this season.........
I will finally acknowledge that John Wooden has passed away. Gilbert I apologize for not writing up a lengthy eulogy for the great ambassador of college basketball. From all accounts few can rival Wooden's wisdom, kindness and generosity but from a basketball standpoint I feel his accomplishments are somewhat overstated. Yes he won 10 titles and yes he won 7 in a row but he had two of the most dominate players in the history of college basketball he had them until their eligibility ran out and he didn't exactly have many threats on the court. In the 70's the mid majors were more like mid-minors and other than maybe a handful of teams who really had the talent to compete for a title. Make no mistake Wooden is a legend but when the title and streaks are mentioned people shouldn't associate the achievements with todays landscape..........
College Football has changed forever. What we know for sure is that Nebraska is the newest member of the Big 10 and will begin league play in 2011. And Colorado has also left the Big 12 but they seem to be the first of many to join the new X-Pac 10. Colorado is tentavily scheduled to begin play in 2012 but that is still left to be determined. All signs point toward Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M moving to the X-Pac 10 by early next week. Texas A&M seems to be interested in a potential spot in the SEC but given the govermental persuassion to stay with Texas the X-Pac will mark the spot. Once the dust settles the Big 12 will be no more the Big 10 would still like to add two more teams and another Power Conference could also be raided. If Notre Dame would accept a Big 10 invite then the ACC/Big East would likely be spared. In the event the Irish once again decline the invitation should the Big 10 not pursue more Big 12 leftovers perhaps a Rutgers or Maryland addition would make sense. This would likely lead to ACC/Big East schools moving to the SEC and/or Big Ten. Thus another power conference could be gone or scrambling to put together some form of a conference...........
Boise State joins the Mountain West. In theory it is a great move. WIth the Big 12 likely obsolete the MWC could become a at large school in the current BCS system. However with the dismantling of the Big 12 and lack of a 5th Conference could lead to the end of the BCS therefore Boise State is still stuck playing good football and ending the year in the Boise Bowl..............
USC receives 4 years probation, loss of 30 scholarships over 3 years, two year bowl bands and are stripped of wins and a National Title. Could we please stop stipping schools of past accomplishments. I equate this practice with the turning off of a video game before saving after an embarrasing loss. The record may not appear but I know what happened. Instead perhaps strips the school of something that they will not forget like money earned from those seasons. In theory USC can handle a loss of 10 scholarships per season and not be effected. But due to the postseason ban those 5 star recruits aren't going to be knockin at the door as in years past. Therefore many of the offers will be going to 3 and 4 star guys so the lack of depth and reassurance of these other 10 scholarships will be more prevelant than at a postseason eligible school. Combine these sanctions with a unproven head coach and this could be a longer rebuilding project then you might think. Miami faced similar obstacles in the early to mid 90's and it took about 6 years to regain that form. It could be longer for USC. If the Trojans play well on the field this season and can still land a good class next year then things may turnaround rather quickly................
6 comments:
Burt loves him some Doc Gooden. Burt waxed estatic about the Powdered-Nosed one in his post, which promoted him to come to the all knowing, wealth of knowledge, Me, with a question based on a vague memory of his... Weren't the Mets on out local cable company??? The answer ...Yes.
Back when ESPN was showing USFL football, Indoor Soccer, and Badmiton Tournaments and the networks that become Fox Sports where still called the Sports Channel and looke dlike it was edited on a shitty Beta-Max in a basement somewhere, and before local networks lost most of the rights to the local teams broadcasting rights, we had cable superstations. The unaffiliated, Indy channels were trully a godsend. Before ESPN was the worldwide leader with 40 channels, we had 4 that really mattered.
Nowadays, you have to catch Reds games on FS Ohio, but it has to be the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky feed, and not the Cleavland feed. Back in the day, at least on Armstrong, all we had to do was turn the dial to channel 28 for WXIX 19, and let Marty take us away to Riverfront and tells us about Pete, Johnny, and Eric The Red. No more Marty on TV these days, you have to listen on the radio to catch him call the games, but it is well worth it, best PBP man in the business.
A few more flips of the dial, and you would arrive at WWOR, out of New York. It was there that we could watch Doc, Strawberry, HoJo, Ron Darling, and Mookie, and also catch the twilight years of former Redleg George Foster. WWOR also featured Knicks basketball games and both of the NY Hockey clubs. It also gave us the oppurtunity to watch the Madison Square Garden cards from the WWF, which was like watching a house show with PBP and the occasional Locker room interview.
If you felt inclined to maybe catch Mel Hall or Hubbie Brooks, flipping the dial to WUAB out of Cleavland was also an option thanks to Armstrong Cable. WUAB had some lame ass fat guy who dressed up in a crappy Superman costume and introduced really old cartoons on saturdays...Kind of like Cleavland's version of Bozo...Which could be seen on WGN, which was on Channel 4. Thanks to them, we got all the Michael Jordan we could handle as well as the Lovable Losers and The Good Guys. I remember fondly Harry Carey up in the booth calling the Cubbies games... I have to admit though, I rarely caught Cubs games on WGN, I didn't like the Cubs...As a child I hated the Cubs due to a little league rivalry and I their logo reminded me of Clark's Pump N' Shop. Then, the channel of channels, WTBS. Braves and Hawks coverage galore. Skip Caray calling the action with Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Glenn Hubbard, Rafeal Ramirez, Zane Smith and Ozzie Virgil. WTBS is resposnible for Atlanta's fan base being so large. Before their was Florida Baseball in the Majors, If you didn't live in Kentucky and could adopt the Reds or Cardinals as your team in the south..you had no 'home' team. WTBS made the Braves not only the home team of the south, but all points in between who didnt have one thanks to is wide availability...And those Let's go to the Hoop promos for Dominique Wilkins and the Hawks games were classic. WTBS played other NBA games every so often, and for a time had SEC sports on. And of course, every saturday at 6:05 was Georgia Championship Wrestling and later World Championship Wrestling... Can't forget the Pan Am games, Goodwill Games, and The Boston Celtics vs. USSR exhibitions either. Unfortunately now, WTBS has no wrestling, and no Braves. The opted to cover the entire MLB and regulate the Braves to it's sister channel WPCH, which is strictly an Atlanta Market station. We even a local Independent, WVAH TV 23, now Fox 11. Before the change, some Reds games showed up from time to time on the channel, and it was home to Jim Crockett's World Wide Wrestling, which lasted well thru the Fox change over and the demise of WCW, and it seemed like the movie Women of Brewster's Place was on every week too...
It's does not seem like of all places Catlettsburg/BC would be a place with all this variety, but growing up, I could watch the widest aray of sports programing imaginable without a big NASA Death Star in the Back Yard. Obviously, we did not have the mass amounts of Channels there are today, so Armstrong felt the need to fill it with what was available, and thanks to cable tv, those channels could be beamed right into my house from all across america. I never really had to struggle through the '3-8-13' days, from the time I was 4 years old, this was all available to me...all 25 glorious channels of Armstrong Cable...we reached 26 in 1988 with TNT, and got up to 36 in 1993 with the Cartoon Network...Now we are at something rediculous like 456 plus On-Demand and PPV.... Those truly were the days... Cable TV, HBO for Fraggle Rock, Letter People on PBS, USA Cartoon Express, Grilled Cheese Sandwhiches, and Intelevision...we didn't mess with that shitty Atari non-sense...
In downtown Rush on any given Wednesday in the mid 80's I could bet a 3 team parlay at noon and watch the above mentioned Cubs,Reds and Braves play there business day specials.Then try to make it back in the PM on the Mets,Indians 2 teamer.All on cable run by 3 guys from Grayson who sold fridges and recliners the other 4 days a week.AMEN on the superstation days.
GRC3
My Doc memories also include a drunkin stuper to cincy sometime in 85 or 86 to see the wonderchild pitch.All I remember for sure was Tom Browning outpitched him and Doc was gone early.If memory serves me correct ,which it probably dont Dave Concepcion hit one out and Eric Davis had a big day.One of you Baseball America guys check me on this.Oh yea it was also hard to keep the Hudeys from melting cause I swear I think it was hot.
Sorry for the delay. We here at the research department have been busy. I am guessing that most of those years blended in together. If the years are correct then you didn't see Gooden get rocked he was dominate in 2 1985 starts at the Riverfront. Since you are confident that he pitched against Browning and got roughed up flash forward a bit to 1987. July 5th to be exact Gooden last just 3 Innings and gives up 9 hits and 5ER with only 3K's. Browning pitched well 7IP 2ER 6K's and got the W. As for the rest you must have been passed out. Davis went 0-5 with 4 K's and Concepcion did come on to PH and produced a single. You did see Tim Tueful hit two HR's though.
I love me some Tim Tueful whoever that is.As far as the game hoever I must really be distorted because by that time I lived in Florida.However I am positive I seen him pitch in either 85 or 86 the rest I probably was a little shall we say intoxicated.Another in a long line of reasons I dont drink,Dnt do it well.
GRC3
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