The Countertop Chronicles

Don’t know where they got this

According to Michele Foster, InStadium’s head of marketing, people go to the john an average of 2.3 times per game (we didn’t ask about the .3 times). They’ll look at ads for at least 90 seconds, longer if there’s a line, she says.

I’ve been to 5 games at the new Nationals Ball Park, and over the last 4 years have attended an average of 25 games a season. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve taken a leak at either RFK or the new stadium

It’s been a long time coming, but how sweet it is

5 Months till Opening Day

They’ve got a cool time delay feature letting you view the entire construction process too!

And Daleys still a turd

Its a shame. Wish Daley wasn’t such a turd. But for its crazy (and soon to be unconstitutional) gun laws, I’d live in Chicago in a second.

Seriously. What a great city. I can’t believe I’ve gone 35 years without coming here.

And Wrigley. Its a shrine. Sitting there now, behind home, just under the awning.

Which is good, cause we have a rain delay going on now.

Its pouring out. But I’m dry.

Will post a video when I get back.

Go Cubs!!!

And Daley’s still a turd.

UPDATE

Here’s some video from the stands

Bud Selig is managing the impossible - making cycling look good!

There’s now more proof of Barry Bond’s guilt.

The man credited with creating the performance-enhancing drug known as “the clear” said in an HBO Sports interview that Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield took the drugs provided to them by BALCO, reports the New York Times.

And that just means Bud Selig should be even more ashamed of himself. He is a disgrace to America, daring to show up and supporting this bullshit.

Selig attended San Francisco’s weekend series in his hometown of Milwaukee, then traveled to the Bay Area for a surprise visit and said he will try to attend the record-breaking game. Selig watched from a box on the broadcast level with Giants executive vice president Larry Baer as well as owner Peter Magowan.

”Throughout this season, I have watched Barry Bonds ‘ pursuit of the home run record. Now that he is on the verge of tying the record, the time has come to announce that I will make every attempt to attend the record-setting moment,” Selig said in a statement Tuesday.

”Out of respect for the tradition of this game, the magnitude of the record, and the fact that all citizens in this country are innocent until proven guilty, I will attend Barry Bonds ‘ next games to observe his potential tying and breaking of the home run record, subject to my commitments to the Hall of Fame this weekend.”

As much of a mess as the Tour de France has become, even it holds the moral high ground to the specter of cheating thats sweeping over baseball.

A second team withdrew from the Tour de France on Wednesday after one of its riders tested positive for the use of a banned performance-enhancing drug, as a still-expanding specter of doping spread over the Tour, threatening the future of the race and the entire sport of cycling.

Cristian Moreni, an Italian rider for the French Cofidis team, was led away by police following the 16th stage after it was announced that he had tested positive for manufactured testosterone after the end of an earlier stage of the race. Moreni declined to request a follow-up, confirmatory test and was expelled from the Tour.

As I said yesterday, the solution is to kick the Giants out of baseball (at least for the duration of Barry Bond’s career).

Perhaps we should kick Bud Selig out too!

UPDATE!

Rasmussen is out!

Michael Rasmussen has been sent home for violating (the team’s) internal rules,” Rabobank team spokesman Jacob Bergsma told The Associated Press by phone.

The expulsion, which Bergsma said was ordered by the Dutch team sponsor, was linked to “incorrect” information that Rasmussen gave to the team’s sports director over his whereabouts last month. Rasmussen missed random drug tests May 8 and June 28.

The 33-year-old rider, who won Wednesday’s stage, had looked set to win the race, which ends Sunday in Paris. But Tour officials had questioned why he was allowed to take the start on July 7 in London, England

In something similar to Bond’s current position, Rasmussen was all but guaranteed to win on Sunday. There’s the precedent, winners get tossed too.

Does Bud Selig have what it takes???? Or is he soo integral a part of the conspiracy to ruin baseball that his judgment needs to be questioned??

A few weeks ago, I wrote the following

Since we were just talking about Barry Bonds (may he drop dead), it seems appropriate that I also mention whats occurring in another fascinating past time of mine, cycling.

While much of bicycling remains shrowded in controversy and disgrace, at least the sport is trying to do something to clean up its act (and I have no doubt that after all the appeals are done, Floyd Landis won’will neither be riding anymore nor carry the title of Tour de France Champ) which is far more than Bud Selig has done so far. And while cycling has yet to really shine the spotlight on Lance Armstrong (come on now folks, look at all the crap every other rider has gotten caught up in - and the problems all of Lance’s closest trainers are facing - and you can’t tell me with a straight face that Lance is nearly as clean as he wants us to believe) Barry Bonds is hardly the biggest star or fan favorite in baseball.

Well, it turns out that Alexandre Vinokourov - one of the Tour’s stars and winner of a tremendous stage victory yesterday - just got busted for blood doping.

he French sports daily L’Equipe, which first reported the positive test on its Web site Tuesday, said the analysis was conducted by the Chatenay-Malabry lab on the outskirts of Paris. It said two distinctive types of red blood cells were found in the A sample and showed that Vinokourov received a blood transfusion from a compatible donor shortly before the time trial.

A senior French anti-doping official confirmed to The Associated Press that there was a positive test for a blood transfusion taken from a rider at the Tour on Saturday. He said the test found two different types of blood, one from the rider, one from a donor.

And, while much of the attention will again shine on the persistent problems of steroids in cycling perhaps we ought to give the sport a show of support. For at the end of the day, they are rooting the cheaters out and their teams are taking the high road.

“Vino has tested positive having to do with a blood transfusion and the team is leaving the Tour,” team spokeswoman Corinne Druey said, using the rider’s nickname.

Yeah, I can accept that.

Short of Bud Selig doing the right thing (or Barry Bonds dropping dead), perhaps the Giants can just forfeit the rest of their games.

Works for me.

UPDATE

BVBigBro over at the Dummocrats has a modest proposal which is even better (and could also apply to the Barry Bonds situation)

The important thing now is for the Tour to establish an appropriate punishment. Namely all of Astana’s riders need to be banned from the Tour for life. Astana’s doctors need to be banned from the Tour for life. Astana’s management needs to be banned from the Tour for life. Anyone who has contact with “doctor” Ferrari needs to be banned from the Tour for life. The UCI needs to be told that they are no longer relevant for establishing standards of sporting conduct for the Tour de France

Oh, and that Doctor Ferrari he mentions . . . .

The Italian physician has been under investigation since 1998 on suspicion that he has relied on performance-enhancing drugs to help his most promising riders, including former world hour record holder Tony Rominger, Italy’s Mario Cipollini, Spaniard Abraham Olano and Armstrong’s former teammate Kevin Livingston.

He was one of Lance Armstrong’s “trainers” though Mr. Livestrong (and the Postal Service) have always denied anything fishy went on..

However Armstrong’s links with Ferrari - a former protégé and later competitor of disgraced Italian doping pioneer Professor Francesco Conconi - were played down by team director, Mark Gorski.

“From my perspective he (Ferrari) has done nothing wrong,” Gorski told reporters here.

“He worked with Lance in altitude training and I don’t see any problem with that. There’s always speculation about a lot of people, but here I don’t really think there’s any reason to be concerned.”

Yeah right. Ban Armstrong. Ban Bonds.

I hope Bud Selig suspends you (or lightening strikes you down).

and its all Bud Selig’s fault.

Throughout its glorious history, baseball has been famous for those - like Gaylord Perry or Rollie Fingers - who skirted the line between fair and foul. However, when a players activities went so far over the line so as to jeopardize the entire integrity of the game - Shoeless Joe, Pete Rose - baseball has always reacted swiftly and severly.

Right now, baseball (or at least Major League Baseball) is in its darkest days. The rebirth of the last few years has been exposed as a sham. Its not Sammy Sosa’s corked bats though that are teh concern (that’s a relatively minor league transgression) but rather its the corked muscles of all baseballs stars. And no one has been more ‘roided up than Barry Bonds.

Now, four away from tying the other of baseballs all time most cherised records (he and Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa all passed Roger Maris’s 63 homers with ease) Bud Selig seems intent on letting this travesty, this mockery of all that is good and right in the world, continue.

Damit. If there was any justice in the world, Barry Bonds and Bud Selig will both be flying on the same plane as it crashes into the ocean. A pox on all their homes.

Went to the Nat’s game yesterday, enjoyed the first win of the season. We debated leaving in the 8th, when they were down 6-2 but like that magical team from the first season, this years crop has no idea when to give up. After dropping the first two games, 9-2 and 9-3, they pulled out a very respectable 7-6 win. They lost 4-3 tonight to the Diamondbacks, but thats ok, at least they were in it again. We’ll pull this ship together, but we really do need some pitching.

Anyway, if I win the lottery and don’t have to work, I’m taking my kids with me on a tour of all 30 baseball parks …plus the field of dreams.

Anyway, here’s a good baseball lyric. I hate Don Henley, but always liked this song.

Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer’s out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
I’m drivin’ by your house
Though I know you’re not at home

But I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin’ in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
Remember how you made me crazy?
Remember how I made you scream
Now I don’t understand what happened to our love
But babe, I’m gonna get you back
I’m gonna show you what I’m made of

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin’ in the sun
I see you walkin’ real slow and you’re smilin’ at everyone
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

Out on the road today, I saw a DEADHEAD sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice Inside my head said, “Don’t look back. You can never look back.”
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go but-

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin’ in the sun
You got that top pulled down and that radio on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin’ in the sun
You got that hair slicked back and those Wayfarers on, baby
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

“It didn’t start the way we wanted,” Acta said.

And with that understatement, the Washington Nationals started their final season at Washington’s RFK Stadium (long ago home to both the Redskins, the HFStival and a host of stellar Dead Shows) in a 9-2 free fall.

“Not much went right today,” Patterson said. “Had a couple injuries. I didn’t pitch well. There wasn’t a lot of positives that came out of today’s game.”

Yep. But I don’t care. Count this lifelong Yankee fan as a proud Nats fan (on my 3rd year as a season ticket holder) too.

As they say, there’s no where to go but up, but at least my tickets are on the lower level right behind home plate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K92OVFeGgIE