Friday, May 25, 2007

Congratulations The Tedster!!!


We often dwell on the negative here at Shooter and Gracey, but today we have great news.

R.P. Tague (aka The Tedster) has been named Vice-Chairman of Mass Transportation by the Sycamore Speedway Board of Directors.

This is a huge day for both the Speedway and the Tedster.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Red Ships of Spain


Last week most d-bags were writing about how the Bulls' season was over down 3-love to the Detroit Pistons.

With last night's astonishing game, the Bulls have now won two in a row and have a chance to force Game 7 if they can somehow win tomorrow in Chicago. For Ben's and the boys the road ahead is still extremely tough, but at least it seems they might have some momentum to help carry them on their way.

Bulls playoff mania aside there is a world outside of the NBA right now and, taken in extremely small doses, it is actually worth discussing.

  • CNNSI.COM's Daily List takes a look at the T0p 5 Nintendo sports games of all time. I love Nintendo sports games because they are the only games at which I was ever decent. Their list is fine except leaving California Games off is either a tragedy or a travesty.
  • Jason Marquis has been promoted to Cubs pitching coach. This should give Larry Rothschild plenty of time for his favorite hobby.
  • Bill Syken at SI.com writes about the fall of the mighty baseball card industry. My favorite card collecting moment is when I stole a M Jeff card from my 7 year old brother. Second favorite moment is the entire summer of '89 when we kept buying packs of Fleer baseball cards in hopes of getting the Billy Ripken "fuck face" card.
  • Studs Terkel turns 95... go crazy!
  • 24 will be back for at least 2 more seasons. Thank god Milo Pressman won't be around to see it.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Why I Hate Jim Hendry, Part 1


Let's call this Part 1 because there's too many aspects of his sucktitude to fit into one post. Let's start with this from today's Tribune:

Upon returning to New York on Monday, former Met Cliff Floyd said he was surprised at his relative lack of playing time with the Cubs.

"A lot of things we talked about earlier in contract negotiations hasn't worked out," he said. "I thought I'd be playing more."

So not only did Jim sign Cliff to what could end up being a multiyear deal, he actually promised the old bag of bones some playing time. The Floyd signing fits in with a few of Jim's great strategies:

- Give a multiyear deal to some old/bad player for no reason. This inflates your payroll so that a $100 million team is in reality an overpaid $80 million team. Check this out: Hank, Derosa, Eyre, Floyd, Howry, CesEar, and Jacque are getting paid over $25 mildo this year. And most of them will be around next year. That is an awful allocation of resources.

- Overvalue somebody based on one good year. Mark DeRosa? Most people would see a 32 year old with a career OPS of .738. This is bad. Jim puts on his marinara colored glasses and sees the guy who hit .332 before the All Star break last year. CesEar? Coherent baseball execs see a guy with a .633 career OPS - this is actually worse than Neifi. Jim instead sees the guy that had a good couple months to somehow make the All Star team in 2005.

- Tell these bums that they're going to start. So it's pretty obvious that Hendry told Floyd (and probably Derosa) that he would start this year. This really screws over your manager. If Lou goes along with Hendry's moronic "promise" to these guys, he's robbing Murton and Theriot of the chance to prove they can play every day. If he does the right thing and plays the young guys, you get a bunch of bitter old men giving grumpy quotes in the paper like Cliff did.

That's just the tip of the Jim Hendry sucks iceberg. Hopefully the new owner gets rid of this turd sandwich, until then at least we have this and this to look forward to.

Friday, May 11, 2007

Playoff Bulls, We Hardly Knew Ye

Things do not look good for our beloved Chicago Bulls.

After a decisive first round ass stomping of the defending champs, the Bulls were primed for another upset of the top seeded Detroit Pistons.

And then the series started...


While the Bulls have scrambled for "energy" and "points", the Pistons have consistently dictated the pace and flow of the games with consistent guard play, good defense and veteran savy. In other words, the Pistons are a lot better than the Bulls.

Even in yesterday's Game 3 when the Bulls were up big in the first half, Detroit made a small run in the last minute that accomplished two things: cut into the Bulls lead and set the tone for Bulls pee-pantsing in the second half.

Here are a few observations/questions from yesterday's contest that are still bothering me:
  • Why do the Bulls constantly dribble around the Piston's zone?

  • Tayshaun Prince is really good. He can get his shot whenever he wants. What is stopping him from being great?

  • I know guarding Rasheed Wallace is extremely difficult, however, he keeps doing the same three moves over and over again. High screen/role for a 3, baseline one dribble turn around, and the one when he trails the play and hits a wide open 3. Please, I beg you, just make him beat you another way.

  • Nobody on the Bulls wants to shoot down the stretch, except for Nocioni.

Obviously the series isn't over yet, but let's face it the series is over.

I Can't Quit You Mark Grace


Apparently we are not the only ones who suffer from some sort of Mark Grace adoration disorder.

Check out this guy.

Note the other collectible pursuits at the bottom of the page.

Friday, May 4, 2007

All Over, Again: Bulls Round 2 Preview






Since we spoke last, your Chicago Bulls swiftly cracked Pat Riley over his Armani wearing duds with the handle of a broomstick. This series went by so quickly that all has been forgotten because of what this has resulted in. An epic series.

My main man Chuck Dickens said it best when this statement was made regarding the French term deja vu: "We have all some experience of a feeling, that comes over us occasionally, of what we are saying and doing having been said and done before, in a remote time – of our having been surrounded, dim ages ago, by the same faces, objects, and circumstances – of our knowing perfectly what will be said next, as if we suddenly remember it." Dickens is showing his geniusness today, not only for creating a rule that forces golfers to pull down their pants and run around the tee box if they can't hit a drive past the ladies marker, but for predicting these events that seem to have already happened: Bulls vs. Pistons in the NBA playoffs, again.

Same Faces:


This category seems to fit, almost 20 years later we have the usual suspects.


John Paxson vs Joe Dumars: Back in the late 80's and early 90's, these two GM's of the Bulls and the Pistons respectively were key contributors to the success of their former teams. Johnny Pax by then had gotten rid of the mustache, freeing up room to shoot deadly j's and Joe Dumars was the key to the "Jordan Rules" defensive playbook to slow down Dorf on Golf. All week you will hear of the two's squeaky clean image, classy business ethics, and impeccable character, so bring the barf bag to each periodical visit, because it gets nauseating.

Edge: I don't care for people from Shreveport, Louisiana so I'll take the guy who proudly sported Andres Nocioni's jersey for 9 years: Johnny Pax. Oh yeah, and Red is still manning the airwaves.

Same Objects:


In between playing a Sleestack in the TV series "Land of the Lost" and coaching the WNBA's Detroit Shock, Bill Laimbeer was a leader on the despised Bad Boy version of the Detroit Pistons (Yeah, I know. Who knew that large green humanoids could play hoops). While frequently throwing his body around the court he would constantly break or hurt his facial area, making him wear a clear mask on his face that would make bukaki blush. Twenty years later, Pistons guard Rip Hamilton has been wearing the same mask since the 2003-2004 playoffs and continues to wear it for good luck. He is so enamored with this mask that he got into a confrontation with Tyrus Thomas during the regular season for wearing a similar mask months before. Not very smart by Rip, it's hard to believe that players aren't out there trying to attack that pretty little protected nose.

Edge: Not sure why there is an edge-o-meter here but it goes to the Bulls anyhow.

Same Circumstances:

This category goes unsaid, it's win or go home basketball, it's the Motor City vs the Second City, and it's old rivalries. An aging former champion Detroit Piston team versus a young, up and coming Bulls team. The Bulls have Skiles on their side and with him they are unstoppable.

From the Heat to the Pistons, like deja vu it's all over, again.

Edge: Bulls in 7

Cubs Gournal #3

The baseball world reacted to the death of Josh Hancock in different ways. Some (the wine chugging hypocrite) threatened to swing their fungo bats at any reporter who dared to try and figure out what actually happened. Others (ESPN douchebags) tried to tell us that we had lost part of the fabric of baseball. Cardinals fans most likely honored him by guzzling a bucket of moonshine and getting a No. 32 tattoed on their chest. The sad part is, the Cards fan had the most reasonable reaction of the three.

The other big off the field news was that a Mets clubhouse errand boy may have been the biggest juice dealer in the league. Sooner or later a whole mess of players are going to be outed, and odds are that at least one of these guys will be a Cub. It got me thinking, who will it be? I think I can rule a few guys out:

- Scott Eyre, Daryle Ward. Moobs are one of the side effects of steroids, but these guys have only big chesticles because they're morbidly obese.

- Ronny Cedeno. He's skinny and bad.

- Dumpster. He's too busy polishing his act to become the Canadian Carrot Top.

- Hank White. Unless rubbing Brill cream in your mullet is a performance enhancer, I don't think so.

Mixed in with these big stories were some actual baseball games. Two weeks ago the Cubs were 3 games under .500 and 3 games out of first. Right now they're 2 games under .500 and 5 games out of first. Even though the standings haven't improved (the Brewers have to start sucking soon right?), there's a lot to like about the team right now.

Lou seems to have figured out that Theriot's on base skills and average defense are better than Cesar's bad hitting and awful defense. Soriano has been hitting well since moving back to left, and D Lee is on pace to hit about 700 doubles. The rotation looks good without raggedy-armed Wade Miller. The bullpen finally got a win, and the team finally won a couple close games (now they're a stellar 2-9 in one and two run matches). And Lou continues to entertain (from the Sun-Times):

Add this to the list of strange-but-true conversations on the pitcher's mound. When Piniella went out to talk to Lilly in the second inning Tuesday, Lilly spoke first. ''He said, 'Skip, your zipper's down,''' Piniella said. ''I said, 'Forget my zipper.' ... How he noticed that, I don't know.'' Said Lilly: ''I was just trying to help him out. Figured he might be on national television.''

Here's hoping the Cubs follow old Lou's lead and let it all hang out at Wrigley against the woeful Nats and Bucs.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Larry Mayer Strikes Again


Larry Mayer has done it again. Not to be outdone by Larry Miller or the L-Man, the original "Mr. Bear" has brought it again with another gem from his "Chalk Talk with Larry Mayer" segment on www.chicagobears.com.

Seriously, this is a really great point that anyone who follows the Bears or the draft needs to consider when it comes to the value of draft picks, especially first day picks.

Larry: I would like to know your opinion on the three picks that the Bears received for the No. 37 draft pick they had picked up from the Jets in the Thomas Jones trade. I was originally disappointed in the trade, but Dan Bazuin, Garrett Wolfe and Kevin Payne seem like great compensation for Thomas Jones, not to mention a third-round pick next year.
Larry S.

Larry: I agree with you completely about the compensation the Bears ultimately received for Thomas Jones, and that seems to be one storyline that has been overlooked in all of the draft coverage. With their shrewd trade, the Bears were able to parlay the pick they received for Jones into a defensive end, running back and safety who all could contribute as rookies.

Personally I was not dissapointed when Thomas Jones was traded because I understood why he had to go. It did seem interesting that we had to swap picks to complete the deal, but I trust Jerry Angelo so I had no problems with it.

What is amazing to me is how these things snowball and how forward thinking teams like the Bears manipulate their draft picks in order to ensure long term success.

The typical meatball fan never realizes the importance of these deals and will inevitably spend their time next year farting and complaining that 2007's running backs are nothing like the immortal Thomas Jones. At the same time they'll be cheering their mustaches off while Wolfe runs, Bazuin sacks, and Payne eats wide receivers faces.