I guess this is one way to disguise yourself in a hurry...

I was never much of a guy to wear hoodies all that often, nor was I ever much of a fan of Marc Ecko fashion, but damn is this get-up cool (well, in a geeky Star Wars kind of way).  It's probably much more hip than the backpack that looked like Yoda I saw hanging off some girl's back in the grocery store the other day.

On a tangential note, Marc Ecko is the guy that bought Barry Bond's home run record ball for $750,000+ and branded it with a big asterisk before donating it to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.  Classic.

For the Longhorns in the audience...

Sometimes baseball at UT seems to take a rather dramatic backseat to football even though you could argue that the baseball team has had more success.

Richard Linklater, of Dazed and Confused fame, will debut his first foray into the documentary genre with Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach which follows Augie Garrido, one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history, and the University of Texas Longhorns baseball team, the winningest team in NCAA history, during their 2005-2006 season.

Set your DVRs to ESPN2 at 10:00 PM EST on Sunday, June 15. Hopefully, no cameo appearances by Matthew McConaughey.

Lucky for the kid he didn't have lunch with a crappy baseball team like the Rangers...

They always use this situation in the movies, but I don't recall seeing it much in real life.

Miguel Tejada of the Houston Astros was so touched by an 8 year old boy he met with muscular dystrophy, he promised him a home run.  And sure enough, he delivered. Not to be outdone, the following two batters did the same.  In total, the Astros hit five homers last night against Milwaukee to beat them 7-4.  From ESPN:

"I was so excited," said Tejada, who'd never promised a home run before. "I know it's hard to tell someone you'll hit a home run and do it. But today when I went to lunch with this kid I wanted him to be happy. So I told him I'd do it."

How awesome does that kid feel right now?

Say it ain't so...

Damn. So now we have to find out from the just released Mitchell Report that Roger Clemens was on "the juice," too? Considering how big he looks, I guess that shouldn't have surprised me, but I was always giving the guy the benefit of the doubt. I actually admired the guy for still having some pretty good heat left in his throwing arm at the ripe old age of 45. I still remember seeing his jersey retired I think with Wild Willie and Fandango back at the old Disch-Falk Diamond during my days at UT. It seemed kind of neat to see some minor history being made at that time. Too bad it all means nothing now. Now all he's good for is doing Google Image searches and finding scantily clad women attached to him like above (which was really the first hit that popped up...really...I swear).

At this point, I'm hoping they just make some new sports leagues where everyone has to be on steroids. Heck, they pretty much do it with horses already. Kind of reminds me of that classic SNL skit:


All Drug Olympics - Watch the best video clips here

Nothing like kicking dirt on the ol' umpire...

Lou Pinella, coaching the Chicago Cubs, was ejected and suspended for four games after this outburst with the third base umpire to dispute a stolen base call. Just seems like some timeless classic baseball moment:



Of course, the minor leagues always have to resort to more theatrics and gimmicks to get the fans in the stands. Free hat day, Krispy Kreme-bunned cheeseburgers, and now over-the-top tirades:

The U.S. legal system--the real American pasttime...

I can't imagine what it's like to lose a loved one in a car accident, but this is just ridiculous.

Back in April, Josh Hancock, a relief pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, ran into a tow truck at high speed that had parked on the side of a highway to help another motorist, and was killed instantly. Hancock's blood alcohol level was 0.157, almost twice the legal limit here in Missouri. Add to that, they determined he was well above the speed limit based on the impact. And if all that wasn't enough, they found marijuana in his car, too. Regardless of the fact that Hancock was drunk and essentially killed himself, it's always tragic when there's a loss of human life.

The craziness, though, comes from the Hancock family who are now filing suit that everyone else was to blame for Josh Hancock's death--the bartender and the restaurant for allowing him to continue drinking after he was probably already intoxicated, the tow truck driver for having stopped on the side of the roadway with his flashers on to do his job, and even the driver of the car the tow truck had stopped to help. About the only people they haven't sued is the customers at the restaurant for not taking Josh home in their own cars, and the Ford Motor Company for not making him an Explorer that drove by itself.

I guess, in the process of trying to accept his death, the family can be excused for not logically seeing the facts of this accident. But no one can excuse the lawyers getting ready to prosecute this case. It's a shame that one of the professions that should be all about ethics gets dragged down into becoming the dirtiest game in town with lawsuits like this.

About as far from Bull Durham as you can get...

The craziness surrounding the signing of "Dice-K" to the Boston Red Sox this year seems to be paying off. Daisuke Matsuzaka so far has a respectable 5-2 record, and the Red Sox have built up quite a comfortable 9 game lead over their arch rival Yankees in the American League East. With Japanese and other Asian imports having such a significant impact on the American Pastime, it was interesting to read this USA Today interview of Ichiro Suzuki, the 33 year old center fielder for the Seattle Mariners, who started this wave of Asian talent crossing over the Pacific Ocean when he became the first Japanese position player in the Major Leagues back in 2001.

Most impressive about Ichiro is, despite the fact that he's considered a god back in his native Japan (and probably by some rabid Seattle Mariners fans, as well), he's pretty humble about his abilities and continues to have an enviable work ethic:

"It's a weakness to try to show yourself to be more than you actually are. To me, it's cooler to hide yourself, even if you're better than that," Ichiro says. "That's a big difference between Japanese and American cultures. Sometimes, (Americans) try to make themselves out to be bigger than they are."

His only vice seems to be overindulging on food, cars, and clothes. The funniest part of the article? When Ichiro comments about his teammates making fun of his progressive fashion sense:

"The majority of people in the clubhouse make fun of my clothing - but I make fun of their clothes 100 times more," he says, with an animated laugh.

"Anytime they say they like my stuff, that's when I start to worry. When they make fun of it, I think, 'OK, I actually look good today.' "

A pitch that geeks can love...

For some reason, I'm completely fascinated by the legend of the gyroball. This isn't the first time I've posted something about it. Even if one really was thrown during a nationally televised game with the aid of slow motion to review the pitch, though, I'm not sure I'd be able to identify it. Heck, differentiating between a fastball, curveball, knuckleball, slider, changeup, etc. is still a bit difficult for me to pick up during the course of a ballgame.

Strangely, Daisuke Matsuzaka, the $50+ million Japanese import picked up by the Boston Red Sox during this offseason who purportedly is the only ballplayer able to throw the pitch consistently during play, denies he even has this in his bag of tricks. But to clear up the mystery, The New York Times ran a story complete with some nifty graphics featuring Kazushi Tezuka, the Japanese trainer who invented the pitch over a decade ago:

Tezuka used a standard fastball grip. He went into a basic motion. Only at the end of his delivery did he deviate. He turned the inside of his throwing arm away from his body and released the ball as if it were a football, making it spiral toward home plate.

The pitch started on the same course as a changeup, but it barely dipped. It looked like a slider, but it did not break. The gyroball, despite its zany name, is supposed to stay perfectly straight.

Is it a myth? Is it real? I don't know, but I'm kind of excited about the start of the upcoming Major League Baseball season.