The New York Yankees travel to Pittsburgh this week to take on the Pirates. Makes Da Stevo a li'l nostalgic...mebbe even a li'l maudlin..indulge me ifya will...  It's been 48 years since these storied teams met.  Here is an image of the last time that happened:

Da Stevo was in the sixth grade when this happened.  It also happened to be the defining moment of when I KNEW I was a baseball fan.  Not so much because Pittsburgh won, because I was a Yankee fan.  More because of the drama involved when an incredible upset occurs.  I thought the Yankees were invincible and when this moment occurred, it certainly lent credence to a David & Goliath story that I once read in some book somewhere....I even heard it onna high-tech gadget when Mrs. Bobbick wuzn't lookin'..the woman hated me...lol

Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle hit home-runs.  And won ballgames with 'em....Ain't no banjo-hittin' dude like Mazeroski was s'posed ta do this...the only thing this guy had in common with those guys was his last initial...and yet...

...Fortunately, my wounds healed quickly...The very next year, the nation was mesmerized by a monumental chase of the most sacred number in baseball..."60"...and it was led by my guys, who became known as "The M-Squad" sans Mazeroski. 

Two out of the three M's eventually made it to the Hall of Fame...and to me, the sad thing about that is the vast majority of people don't understand why I harp on ad infinitum, why some Roger's do belong there....and some Roger's don't...

and much like a troubadour that emerged from the same era,  I realize, that in sport's, life, and especially baseball....

"The times...they are a-changin'..."

To this generation of fans:

I guess ya had to have been there...

Never been a big NASCAR fan..doubt if I ever will be...Ya never know tho'...A guy ...*Jim Rome... I listen to every day said the same thang once and changed his mind onda deal.  If I ever do get into it, it'll prob'ly be cuzza sumpthin' one of you guys said in here that sparks my interest. Don't holdyer breath tho'...HOWEVER...

...After surfin' 'round onda net...Da Stevo ran across a pic of Jeff Gordon's better-half and I'm thankin' there jus' might be sumpthin' to it...

...Ya jis' never know...It's stuff like this dat makesya thank Soccer jus' could possibly come up widda reason fer me ta watch it.....

....Notta snowballz chance in hay..ell...

* A Li'l "NFL" flavor in here to make my category legit...lol...click onnit..

 Da Stevo useta own a country beer joint outsida Austin, Texas 'bout 30 miles er so...You know the kind...Built in 1891..corrugated ol' rusty tin siding...a beer garden with a band stage outside and inside, a cupla bbq "smokerz" and pits outside, a huge Texas flag painted onda wall behind the bandstand, a place fer "turkey shoots", and horseshoes and...drankin' beer...Had character.. Kinda like this'n:

     (my scanner ain't werkin', but soon az it duz..I'll gitya some pics of da real deal inna future post...)...or this'n:

     Overda years It wuzza feed store, a hardware store, gas station, a church..anna ####house (tol'ya it had character) beforeda Stevo opened uppa beer joint in dat li'l town of less than a cupla hunnert folks or so...Lotsa bikers loved da place...and certainly did their part in keepin' da doors open...never hadda fight, either..close..but them thangz were curtailled fromda git-go...da Stevo din't take no ####..din't hafta...Da Law wuz on my side...

     Anyway...One day we hadda a cupla the usual miscreants drankin' and havin' a good ol' time and they started to feel the macho kick-in and commenced ta' go 'bout arm rassilin'..As usual, there wuz alwayz one ol' boy that wuz pretty good attit and the usual pretenders...Lotsa wimmin' were watchin' all this stuff and one brunette dame challenged one of the dudes and beat 'im soundly...I think she owned a pig farm a cupla miles downda road or sumpthin' but, in any event. she pretty much emasculated da dude...and cut a huge dent in his odds of hookin' up with any of the female "talent" runnin' around...

     This li'l vignette brings me to the real point of my blog...Danica Patrick and Ryan Briscoe...Dis dame heads (grandstands) out after Briscoe like she's gonna whup some #### or sumpthin' andya gitda feelin' that she knew it wuzza no-win situation fer Briscoe da minnit she took her first step towards his camp...I mean-like if he belted her, thankin' she wuz AJ Foyt or sumpthin'..he's a ruined man..If he jus' takes her toungue lashing he don't come out all that well either...a lose-lose deal ferda guy and win-win fer her...Thanx toda official that interceded and avoided the confrontation 'tween 'em, we were spared that awkward scene..

     Jus' like da mullet that took that dame on in my bar...DUDE...WHATDAHELL WERE YOU THINKIN'?!?!...By takin' da dame on he set hisself up to lose...If he beat her..he wuz SUPPOSE to...If he loses...he goes down in beer-joint history and lore az "'da as_hole that took onna dame in an arm-rassilin' contest and LOST..."

     That dude never came in my bar again, btw...

The ONLY positive thang 'bout gas prices might be that fewer people will git killed overda week-end...Wonder where "W" and Cheney flyin' to... Playerz signed a drug agreement and Dud Selig gave 'em amnesty...Guess that means a lot uvvem slithered their way outta any grief...Waytago Andruw and Prince and 'bout 80% uvya..oh...and...howzzat lawyer werkin' ferya, Roger?... Phillip leadin' atda Colonial..git yer butt back on Tour Eldrick..'Ain't nuthin' wrong with Jason Taylor testin' da Hollywood waters...werked fer Jim Brown...Parcells izza dinosaur...took him long enuff to start Tony Romo over Drew Bledsoe in Dallas, din't it?...I'll be pullin' fer Danika this weekend...Oops...maybe dat's da wrong word...I mean..rootin'...ahhhh crrappp!!...fuhgeddaboudit!!...I'll be cheerin' her on...After allda winter steroid flak. I din't thank I'd git back into MLB this year...thenda 'Stros went onna tear outta nowhere...Didn't watch a single game last year...My interest jus' ain't as intense azzit useta be...Fer my money, a lotta these One-Year-and Out a-holes (Mayo, etal)  ..they can hitda brix az far az I'm concerned...Instant Replay in any sport oughtta beda rule rather than exception...Still thank da DH in baseball shoulda never happened...Backindaday...the only way you were gonna git Koufax outtada game wuzta pinch-hit fer 'im...'Course, Bob Gibson never had dat problem..dude could flat-out hit...

Celts and Pistons goin' 7...Da West will winda whole thang...Sumpthin' ain't right with Roy Oswalt...and last nite, Brad Lidge came in and got Da Puma to fly-out onda first pitch and notched a save 'ginst hiz former team...Good to see Lidge gittit back...dude had some grief down here...Gonna check-out Kimbo Slice next weekend..MMA to Network TV...I'm innnnn...Mike Tyson woulda been bad-#### indat venue in hiz prime...still could, I guess..Kobe...better'n MJ?...nahhhh... Oscar Robertson wuz better'n both...da Jazz suck...Charlize Theron's a babe...Here's a li'l fluff ferya...Da right guy won on American Idol...assumin' ya care....Continuin' the "pop" theme...See where Shania Twain's gittin' divorced...mebbe she'll hook-up with Lance Armstrong  or sumpthin'...All you Fox bloggers eat a lot and drank yer asssses off dis week-end.......annnddd...

..............Gawwd Bless our Soldiers and all that fought their #### off so da Stevo could ####-off like dis....I ain't got no right ta complain 'bout...NUTHIN'...OUUUUTTTTTT...

Da Stevo ain't really a big NASCAR or car-racin' fan or nuthin' but that's not to say that I might not get into it one day.  I'm not that big on cars altho' I still think the '57 T-Bird is the finest lookin' car in history.  Either way, no matter whether or not I git into racin' or cars or whutever, I got my doubts that I'll git into 'em az much az this nimrod...Check-out ol' Eddie Smith (yuh really needta click on dat) over there in da U.K.  Ol' Ed's found hisself a purty interestin' pasttime...Da Stevo's thinkin'...

.....Looks like a nomal guy...well...all thangs considered.  But cometa find out, he's figgered outta way to take his hobby to another level...

"...I'm not sick and I don't want to hurt anyone, cars are just my preference.
    I'm a romantic. I write poetry about cars, I sing to them and talk to them just like    a girlfriend.  I know what's in my heart and I have no desire to change..".

    Dude haz sex with his cars...cat gave-up wimmin' he enjoys it so much...Been datin' this VW fer 5 yrs now....I mean...like...check 'im out up there in that pic...dude's proud...ainnhe?

"...Mr Smith, 57, first had sex with a car at the age of 15, and claims he has never been attracted to women or men...."

     Makesya wonder if he ever had one of them cars Jan & Dean useta sing about in that song "Surf City, USA"  ...you 'member ...

"... I bought a '30 Ford wagon and we call it a woody
(Surf City, here we come)
You know it's not very cherry, it's an oldie but a goody
(Surf City, here we come)
Well, it ain't got a back seat or a rear window
But it still gets me where I wanna go..."

Glad I could share that withya.....Talk amongst yerselfs...

 (UPDATE BELOW)    Ya know?..The last thang on earth a casino needs to do fer me, iz extend me a line of credit.  Hell, Master Card and Visa are playin' with fire fer givin' me da cards they have...anyway, I'm jus' speakin fer myself but, to me..gamblin' izza rush...

     Backindaday...da Stevo, useta do it everyday.  'Course, I wuz single then and made pretty fair dollars, so, the only person I wuz hurtin' wuz jus' myself if I lost any large amount.  Nuthin' likeda Chuckster, of course, but it's all kinda relative...I useta bet football, basketball and baseball.  And I did it every day there wuzza game of some kind on.  The thang 'bout bettin' onna game wuz that no matter what teams were playin'..It would turn a ####-hum match-up into an EVENT ...anda Stevo wuz into events.  It made every Sunday better'n Super Bowl Sunday.

     Over a period that lasted 'bout 10 years, bettin' on all dis stuff, I'm gonna say that I broke about even...Most bookies will tellya that ifya did that good you prob'ly beat the system, and I got no reason to doubt 'em..Sure...you can have a week whereya hit 90% of yer bets and thank yerra genius...but it won't take long before sumpthin' bringsya back down to earth....

     ...Witness this story: 

     After bettin' ferrawhile...I ran across a sports accountant  that took baseball bets.  For the uninitated, here's how that works.  Usually in baseball the betting line is based on the pitching match-ups:  Say you had a game where Steve Carlton wuz goin' up against some jerk-off who wuz lucky enuff to be some teams spot fifth starter...You might hafta lay-down 500 bux justa win a buck-25 ($125).  But, say, Carlton wuz goin' up against Fernando Valenzuela....well, then, you might git an even bet..betta cupla hunnert and win/lose a cupla hunnert...lotta factors go into it but pitchin' iz always the most dominant barometer...

      Genius?!?!

     Ok...widdat outtadaway...My very first week bettin' baseball..I finished da week 30-2..that ainna misprint..even my bookie thought I wuzza genius and mebbe one of Gawdz Children, which gave us another thang in common.  Hell, I almost considered bein' a born-again Christian 'til I realized that gamblin' and that pursuit might be a conflict of interest.  And besides, I wuzn't givin' no church any juice money...

     Cuttin' toda chase here....It took me 'bout two weeks after that to regain some lost humility and rejoin da ranks of jus' bein' another mullet thinkin' he's gotda gift ....Durin' that stretch, one of my losses had me speedin' downda freeway to get to a pay phone (NOTE:fer you youngsters out there, ask yer daddy 'bout that term) to git my bet down on Dodger vs. Cubs at 'bout 5-1 oddz goin' with Fernando V...

.....Cubs bombed 'im...8-3 if I 'member right...  

  ....or Homeless?!?!?

 I ain't sayin' Chuck's right or wrong...but I am sayin':

     I Unnerstand.... But.... you ain't gonna beat 'em...I'm tellinya...you can make book onnit... 

UPDATE: Former Detroit Lion QB and Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware has said on his Talk-Radio Show...down here in H-Town that he spoke with a close-personal friend of Charles Barkley last night (Tues) and the friend told him that Chuck is no where near close to any financial trouble...as "He is fine...trust me.."...like it was notta big-deal at all...