The All-Tebow Team: 9 Athletes Who Have Been Successful With Unconventional Styles of Play

Tim-Tebow-Win

Several weeks ago Sports Pickle asked, “What should the Denver Broncos name their new Tim Tebow offense?” One of the choices was “rugby.”

Since Tebow took over for Kyle Orton as Denver’s starting quarterback, the Broncos have won 6 of 7 games. But, as any person who has cable or Internet access knows by now, Tebow is not an ordinary NFL quarterback.

[Read more...]

Albert Pujols’ Act of Betrayal Against the St. Louis Cardinals Should Not be Defended

Hypocrite

I knew the whole Albert Pujols re-signing situation was doomed from the very start.

Once Pujols started to tell the press he was open to looking at other options besides the St. Louis Cardinals I knew, in the back of my head, that Pujols was going to go against the words he spoke not that long ago.

[Read more...]

Dear Parents: Please Don’t Raise Your Kids as Chicago Cub Fans

Sad Cubs

I don’t want to come off as the type of person who tells people how to raise your kids or how to be a parent; but I feel, as a victim of what I’m about to discuss, that I need to speak out.

Please, whatever you do, do not raise your child as a Chicago Cubs fan.

[Read more...]

A Look at All the Professional Baseball Teams That Have Jumped From One Major League to Another

New Astros owner Jim Crane during yesterday's press conference. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Yesterday Major League Baseball announced that, as part of the Houston Astros‘ sale to Jim Crane of Crane Capital Group, the team will be switching leagues, moving from the National League Central to the American League West in 2013.

[Read more...]

All I Want From Theo Epstein and the Chicago Cubs is a Reason to Believe Again

theo-epstein-gave-birth-to-baby-jack-this-morning

If you’re a Cubs fan or just a lover of baseball, you’ve probably heard the news that Theo Epstein has accepted the GM job for the Cubs. As there always is when a move of this magnitude is made in sports, people will give their opinion on whether they think it’s a great or terrible move.

I, upon hearing the news, had no real strong opinions. I read both sides of the argument, but I still found myself without a real opinion on the subject. I don’t really care what Epstein did with Boston. I don’t care to hear about his success stories. I don’t even care to hear about his failures in Boston.

All I care about is seeing my Cubs team start winning and becoming a serious threat in the MLB.

[Read more...]

Top 10 MLB Bloopers That Make Us Laugh

jose-canseco-head

At times, baseball can produce some moments that bring out the absolute worst in players and in teams despite the best of intentions. With the advent of technology, those not-so shining moments can now be caught on camera immediately and shared online for all to see literally within seconds.

Here is a list of some of the funniest bloopers in major league baseball history.

[Read more...]

This is probably the greatest baseball photobomb ever

baseball-photobomb

I was just forward this link from a friend, and since I have the luxury of a job where I can sit on my ass and open up links like this during the day, I decided to indulge. What followed were 11 pretty funny “accidentally dirty baseball photos” rounded up by the folks at 11Points.com.

[Read more...]

Baseball Bashers: Let’s Stop the Hypocrisy

baseball

Many times in life, we end up changing our minds on certain things.  It’s not a big deal – we are fickle people – but we at least owe it to ourselves and everyone involved to be honest about it.

When I was in high school, I liked a certain type of girl.  It worked for me in high school, and I had a lot of fun, but as I grew older, I grew to appreciate other qualities.

I don’t need to spend time bashing the girls I dated in high school.  I DEFINITELY don’t need to start making up “facts” that support why I am now a better person either.  I just need to be honest and say that, quite simply, I changed.

Baseball bashers think differently.

[Read more...]

Relive the Boston Red Sox “Level 5 Epic Collapse” in this very well done chronological music video

redsox-collapse

Just caught this video in today’s Hot Clicks and it is absolutely outstanding. I’m not a Red Sox fan or a hater, but I watched the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it.

What a great, great night of baseball. Wow.

[Read more...]

Video: Father drops kid to go after fly ball then catches evil eye from his wife

man-fly-ball-wife

This is one of the more hilarious videos you’re likely to see on the Interwebs today…and we can laugh at it because no one got hurt, except maybe the rather impulsive dad who made the split second decision that going after a fly ball was more important than protecting his kid.

But don’t worry…his wife lets him know how she feels about it.

[Read more...]

5 Reasons Why the Detroit Tigers are a World Series Contender

Justin Verlander

The Phantastic Phour. The “Greatest Red Sox team ever.” The power-hitting Yankees. The vastly improved Brewers. Throughout the 2011 MLB season, there’s been no shortage of sexy picks to win the World Series.

One team rarely mentioned in the discussion: The Detroit Tigers.

Because they aren’t as flashy as the other top teams, they haven’t received the same fanfare. Only now, when they’ve won 11 straight games, are they starting to get our attention. A closer look, however, suggests we should’ve been heralding the Tigers as a World Series sleeper for a while now.

Here are five reasons why the Detroit Tigers just might win it all this year.

[Read more...]

Forget Suspension; Cubs Should Cut Ties with Carlos Zambrano

carlos-zambrano-angry-bat

In what shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows anything about sports, Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano threw another one of his tantrums Friday night. After allowing five home runs to the Atlanta Braves and being ejected for throwing two inside pitches at Chipper Jones, Zambrano did what he does best: storm off the field in disgust.

Zambrano apparently told club staff that he was retiring after the ejection. Sadly, two hours later, Zambrano’s agent made it clear that his client was not going to retire; instead, the Cubs put Zambrano on the disqualified list for 30 days.

Cubs general manager, Jim Hendry, said that it was the harshest punishment without actually releasing Zambrano. My question is: Why didn’t Hendry release Zambrano?

[Read more...]

Sports fans: It’s still summertime…football can wait!

fantasy football week 7 stock report - jay cutler

July 25th was a glorious day for football fans everywhere. There will be a 2011 football season. Wooo! Yay!!

Oh the Twitter feeds. Everyone was rejoicing the lockout’s end. I’m sure President Obama is already planning to make July 25th a National holiday. And then I saw a tweet that caught my eye. It said “Football’s back. Can’t wait for fall to come.”

Whoooooaaaa. Excuse me, are you serious?!

[Read more...]

A Love Letter: Wade Boggs, Brady Anderson, and the Curious Case of the Extra Tightly Wound Balls

boggs-brady

Earlier today I started reading this article about the frosty relationship between Roger Clemens and Wade Boggs when they were teammates. I didn’t even make it to the third paragraph.

As I often do when reading about baseball players, Hall of Famers in particular, I immediately decided to check out Wade Boggs’ Baseball Reference page. I love looking at the stats of old-time players in a perpetual personal process of putting everyone in the proper historical context in my own mind.

wade-boggsFor some reason today something jumped out at me about Boggs’ stats that never had before the other times I’ve visited his Baseball Ref page (and, yes, there have been other times). What jumped out at me was the number 24, as in the 24 home runs that Boggs hit in 1987. Certainly this does not sound like a lot for a guy in the Hall of Fame, but it does when you look at the rest of the Boggs’ season totals and realize his next highest total was 11;  and never in the four years before or after his 24 home run season did Boggs ever hit more than 8.

Think about this in the context of today: in 1987, coming off of a season in which he hit 8 home runs, Wade Boggs slugged 24 long ones, or three times as many. Think a jump like that might arouse a little water cooler PED discussion in 2011? Ask Jose Bautista. Yet I’ve never heard Boggs’ name bandied about with righteous indignation by doubters of his preposterous (by his own standards) 1987 explosion.

No, Boggs isn’t…Brady Anderson.

[Read more...]

Down on the Farm: “Corny” Illinois, and the Indy Indians continue to crawl back into the race

Mississippi River

This is the third in a monthly series called “Down on the Farm” that will chronicle my visits to various minor league parks throughout the 2011 season. (Part 1 can be found here and part 2 here.)

[Read more...]