These thoughts (typically disconnected) actually have nothing to do with Friday the 13th, but are just my random thoughts on various sports topics of the past few weeks.

I would normally have posted a blog at the beginning of baseball season extolling the virtues of baseball as a whole, and my teams in particular. However, this baseball season began with my baseball brain in limbo. That was due entirely to the whole situation with the MLB Extra Innings package. I have been a subscriber to Extra Innings (thanks to my wife and my birthday falling in early April) for the past 2 years. I’ve REALLY enjoyed watching the Giants (and occasionally someone else) on Extra Innings. With the season beginning and Extra Innings available only on DirecTV (my motto is, “no way in hell”), I was in a real quandary. Do I wait it out and hope for the best, or do I take the plunge and get MLB.TV via the internet? I was hoping for a settlement for a couple of reasons. One is, I already spend way too much time in the computer room, and I tend to get distracted by Full Tilt and PokerStars. Two, my recliner is in the living room! While investigating, I discovered that MLB.TV was having a free five day trial. Thank goodness…I was able to find out that, at least on my 3 year old computer, that MLB.TV is ####. The first day, the mosaic feature wouldn’t work at all. The slower feed I had to use had a hiccup literally once a second. Sound quality was also poor. By day 2, the mosaic feature was working, and the hiccups were less frequent, but bigger (2 or 3 seconds) when they happened. So, the product had improved from #### poor to mediocre. Thankfully the whole issue was resolved before the trial period ran out, and I could settle back into my recliner and enjoy Kuip and Kruk.

Which brings me to my next musing. If you had told me that by Friday the 13th that one of my teams would be a game above .500 (we’ll ignore the 3-2 part for now) and hal####ame out of first, and the other would be 2-7 and 4.5 games back, I wouldn’t have been surprised. Had you told me it’s the Mariners at 3-2 and the Giants would be 2-7, I wouldn’t have bought it.

What the hell happened??? I vehemently poo-pooed (can you vehemently poo-poo something? Ah, well…) all those who talked about the Giants being awful this year. They’re still too old, everyone said. Nah, they picked up some great players, made some significant upgrades. I know it’s early, and trying to stay away from the panic button, but so far Zito hasn’t come through (although I really think that’s temporary) and the bats…holy cow, the bats have been nearly non-existent. I wouldn’t have anticipated that from a veteran (i.e. ancient?) team. I would think that any hitting slumps would happen late in the season. Winn and Feliz in particular haven’t been coming close to producing, and I fear their jobs are in jeopardy. There are a few bright spots…Cain has been terrific, Morris has done well, Molina and Aurilia are hitting, Durham is playing some great defense. But the Giants need to turn some things around in a hurry before they dig themselves too deep a hole.

And how ‘bout those M’s? I know it’s too early to really tell (5 games in two weeks…who saw that coming?), but there are some signs that they may be a better club than I anticipated. At the very least, we ARE going to be able to look forward to and exciting game every five days. Felix Hernandez has been nothing short of amazing. Has anyone else gotten off to the start he has? I’ll echo what sleepless has been saying…Santana has some real competition for the Cy Young this year, and it comes from a fireballer who is just 21.

Other thoughts…is anyone who has ever listened to more that 5 minutes of Don Imus even a bit surprised that he would say something so stupid? I’ve never understood the appeal of that man…personally, I think he should have been off the air years ago. I think it’s a real reflection on how our culture seems to embrace the stupid and the offensive. I do think the statement made by the Rutgers coach was well thought out and eloquent. (I also have to admit to you…I had to ask my wife what “nappy-headed” meant. The “####” part I figured out…)

Someday I will write a post about an overlooked comic genius. Yes, I’m talking about the incomparable Norman Chad. No, I’m not kidding. Yes, I can hear some of you groaning…those who only know Norm from World Series of Poker coverage. I invite you to read his column. Here’s a link to his most recent  effort:   

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/chad/4
700666.html

When you read Norm long enough, you start to understand his sel####eprecating humor, and his WSOP commentary becomes much more enjoyable.

Julio Franco is still playing…woo hoo! Having just hit the big 5-0 (and not handling it quite as well as I’d like), I’m pulling for Julio to keep playing at least until the end of next season. You go, big guy!

One final note…the injury was not as bad as feared. It wasn’t a torn ACL after all, just bad knees, and the knee has been repaired. The Dr. said about 8 weeks on the DL and then things will be back to normal. I’m talking about Lola, our basset hound. It’s still a mystery as to how she injured it…I don’t recall her setting any picks or getting taken out while turning a double play. But she’s back, and we’re thankful. The vet did hit the nail on the head when he called her a drama queen, however.

Happy Friday the 13th!