Monthly Archives: June 2010

The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: A Review Plea

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Nestled in the somewhat vapid remnants of one of Kansas City’s many, many once-thriving and historic neighborhoods, lies a gem that any baseball fan should see.  A gem that is, that any baseball fan should see…before it’s gone forever.

Ever since the 2006 death of Honorary Chairman and driving force, John “Buck” O’Neil, the museum has started to list.  Current management has tried to distance itself from O’Neil and economic times have been cruel.  But one thing has not changed since it opened its (twice relocated) doors in 1994:  The story it has to tell.

The thing about the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is that it is just what its name says it is, a baseball museum.  Black baseball in America lived a parallel life to white baseball and the words, artifacts and pictures that line the NLBM’s modest walls mesh together to form the story of that life.

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Meet my new favorite team: Paraguay

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South American representative Paraguay awaits a quarterfinal match against favored Spain, but in the down time between games, we have some thing to increase attention.

Paraguayan lingerie model Larissa Riquelme is promising a Diego Maradona like guarantee. She’ll run through the streets of Paraguay naked. Unlike Maradona, she’ll paint her body the color of Paraguay’s flag, but otherwise, she’ll be completely naked.

Of course, the odds of this happening are not favorable. Paraguay will have to knock off number two ranked and defending European champions Spain, and then face the winner of Argentina v Germany, two teams with a successful history on the world’s stage.

If Paraguay were to survive all of that, then they could meet top-ranked Brazil, fourth-ranked Netherlands, or an upstart team like Uruguay or Ghana in the finals.

All of that aside, there’s no reason we can’t root for them. Join me in saying, “Go Paraguay!”

**Author apology – I, Michael Street, apologize for not embedding a picture of Larissa Riquelme, but I wrote the article in a hurry since I need to be exiting the door right now.

***Flop Update: This thread is useless without pics. ;)

World Cup Quarterfinals Preview – Friday

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This Friday marks the beginning of the Elite Eight in the World Cup. The schedule follows the normal mid-morning and mid-afternoon game. EJSIC is here for a quick preview of each of Friday’s games.

Netherlands v Brazil

Friday, 10 am EST, Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium

Results to date:

Netherlands – W 2-0 v Denmark, W 1-0 v Japan, W 2-1 v Cameroon, W 2-1 v Slovakia

Brazil – W 2-1 v North Korea, W 3-1 v Ivory Coast, D 0-0 v Portugal, W 3-0 v Chile

Analysis: Holland is one of two teams to be perfect so far (the other is Argentina), but they now face their toughest test in five-time champion Brazil. If the Netherlands wants to shake the stigma of “best country to never win a World Cup,” they’ll have to beat the best ever.

Brazil has transformed its play under former player turned manager Dunga. Their defense-first mentality has led to a disappearance of the Joga Bonita football fans grew accustomed to. However, the flashy play is still their at times and their offensive attack is as deadly as ever.

Holland also boasts their own unique brand of football referred to as Total Football. Holland has traditionally put more emphasis on offense in comparison to their European rivals.

So when these two teams meet Friday, something has to give. Will Total Football withstand Dunga’s raw mentality or will the Brazilian superstars do as always and win?

Prediction: Brazil 3-2

Uruguay v Ghana

Friday, 2:30 PM EST, Soccer City Stadium

Results to date:

Uruguay – D 0-0 v France, W 3-0 v South Africa, W 1-0 v Mexico, W 2-1 v South Korea

Ghana – W 1-0 v Serbia, D 1-1 v Australia, L 1-0 v Germany, W 2-1 v United States

Analysis: Uruguay has been a surprise of the World Cup. They dominated Group A and did not allow a single goal. If we’ve learned anything from South Africa 2010, it is that South American teams have been the class of the field.

On the other side is Ghana, the last African team alive in the first African World Cup. They’re not only playing for their country, but for the entire continent. Of the two teams, Ghana has looked more suspect, but their talent is undeniable.

Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez have scored five of the six Uruguay goals while Asamoah Gyan has added three of his own for Ghana.

Both teams have played well defensively to date with some theatrics for needed goals. Which team will come through this time?

Prediction: Ghana 2-1 (extra time).

Be on the lookout for an EJSIC Live Blog for the Brazil v Netherlands game and possibly one for Uruguay v Ghana.

Luke Warm Linkage

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South Carolina cheerleaders have always loved the Cocks.


Al-Qaeda Calls Off Attack On Nation’s Capitol To Spare Life Of ‘Twilight’ Author

Luke Warm Linkage

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You know you’ve tried the urinal kick. We all have.

MLB Round-Up 6/28 Edition

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MLB Round-Up is back for the week. Let’s get it started.

Team of the Week

American League – Texas Rangers. The Rangers become a two time winner in the team of the week category. They continued their hot play over the last seven days. Too bad their ownership situation will probably keep them from acquiring a much-needed ace and making them into a true pennant contender.

National League – San Diego Padres. The National League’s best team (yes, that’s correct) continued their solid play by ending the week with a sweep of the Florida Marlins. Instead of wondering where Adrian Gonzalez would be headed in mid-July, the Padres will be buyers at the deadline.

Position Player of the Week

American League – Miguel Tejada (Baltimore). The former MVP continues to produce despite questions of his age. Tejada batted .481 for the week with 13 hits and 7 RBIs.

National League – David Wright (New York). Arizona’s Justin Upton was deserving of this award, but considering Wright had been the offensive catalyst for New York’s resurgence, he gets the nod. Wright batted .500 with 8 RBIs and 2 homers.

Pitcher of the Week

American League – Tommy Hunter (Texas). The 24 year old pitcher has provided a boost to the Texas rotation, especially last week. He started twice, registering 12 innings combined with an ERA of 2.25. Most importantly, he won both starts.

National League – Jaime Moyer (Philadelphia). The ageless lefty helped Philly start to play better baseball with his 1.80 ERA in 15 innings in the last 7 days. Moyer also recorded 15 strikeouts.

I’ve Been Experienced: Chapter 37

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I Have Been Experienced, by Jose Kortez
Table of Contents
I’ve told you before that Evil Twin took a job after college working on some fishing boats out of Alaska. He didn’t have a house and kept a girlfriend in Seattle, where he would stay most of the time he was on land. When not at her place, he would go back and visit with his parents or his brother. So, before one of his trips, he and I decided that when he got back for the summer, I should come up to Alaska and we’d take a trip around the state. We would leave out of Anchorage, head up to Fairbanks, then down towards Wrangel-St. Elias National Park, and then back to Anchorage. We were going to make this trip in a little more than 2 weeks, so it was going to be a lot of alcohol and wildlife encounters packed into a short period of time. Pretty much a Darwin Award waiting to happen.

Women always seemed surprised by my actions even when they had heard from friends what would happen.

Women always seemed surprised by my actions even when they had heard from friends what would happen.

I flew in to Anchorage and immediately went over to the rental car place to get our car for the next two weeks. I got a little 4 door and the guy stressed that I could not drive it anywhere off of the major highways and if I got stuck somewhere, they would not come tow me out. All I could think, the entire time this dick was talking, was “yeah, yeah, yeah – I’m in Alaska and I’m going to drive off road, so suck it.”

Also, for those of you thinking of taking a trip to Alaska and renting a car. Do not expect a good deal on your vehicle. It was like $50 a day to pick it up and drop it off at the same location. I paid for it and then headed to the place Evil Twin was crashing. I told him about the car and how much it was and about the rules – he and I split the cost of that BS and then agreed to get our money’s worth out of it.

There are a number of stories that resulted from this trip – because when you put the two of us together for that kind of time, that happens. But in this case, we were heading up to Denali to spend some time hiking Mt. McKinley. That’s a long way from Anchorage and we stopped a bunch to go fishing and to get drunk. And after about 4 days of camping and fishing, we were driving on the main highway north when we passed this little paper plate sign on the side of the road. Evil Twin looked at me and said, “Turn around, I want to read that again.”

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