The Red Sox shortstop situation has already consumed two posts on this barely week old blog, so you know, it's gotta be huge! The latest rumor floating around and somewhat confirmed by Pedroia himself, the Red Sox are asking if he thinks he can play shortstop. His answer is an enthusiastic, "you bet your a-"
Many Sox fans have embraced the news, citing Pedroia's scrappy, can-do attitude. Somewhere, Ken Tremendous weeps. Shawn Haviland, who pitches in the A's system, and who blogs, thinks the move is fated to fail.
Yes, Pedroia is a gold glove caliber player at 2nd base. Yes, his best tool is a strong arm. Unfortunately for the Red Sox Pedroia was moved off short stop in the minor leagues because he just does not have the physical skills to play the position. I know that people will point to the fact that Hanley Ramirez forced Pedroia to play second base but the fact of the matter is that if the Red Sox believed that Pedroia could play short stop at the major league level they would have found a way to get him continued work at the position. The fact of the matter is that all short stops can play second base but most second basemen can not play short stop.
Those are plenty of facts. But Haviland fails to produce data supporting the general claim. I am not overly enthusiastic about flipping the Red Sox infield, moving Youkilis across the diamond and shifting Pedroia to the other side of the keystone sack. But at least Youkilis has played credibly at third base. Pedroia last played shortstop in 2006 for a total of 6 games. The previous two seasons in the minors, he played 58 errorless games at short. In three years, not a game. no comments
Jon Beason's arrest was just the beginning of his legal troubles. The Charlotte Observer is reporting that Gregory Frye filed a civil suit against Beason in mid-November.
Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason was sued Tuesday by a team fan who claims Beason beat him last month at the Uptown Cabaret.
Gregory C. Frye claims in his lawsuit the Nov. 15 attack occurred after he told another Panthers player that he had seen Beason "up at the lake doing coke with some girl."
Beason, 24, was arrested Monday and accused of punching Frye in the face at the Morehead Street strip club after the team's win over Atlanta.
Beason, one of the Panthers' team captains and their leading tackler, adamantly denies attacking Frye and the drug allegations, said his attorney George Laughrun.
"I think Mr. Frye is living in fantasyland if he thinks Jon Beason ever snorted cocaine," Laughrun said.
The misdemeanor assault charge coupled with this civil litigation is piling up the headaches in Charlotte.
no commentsUPDATE: Tiger speaks, errr, issues statement. Instant reaction, this won't help. The blood is in the water, the sharks will not relent.
It's all over by now, Opie and Anthony played the clip that a source purports to be Tiger leaving a voicemail for Jamiee Grubbs one of his alleged dalliances.
Our Bloguin compatriot, Bob Biscigliano, posted the clip on his blog earlier this morning. Jason from IIATMS tweeted his shock that Tiger could be so foolish. But Tiger has lived in a world, for the last fifteen years give or take, first when he was the best amateur golfer on earth and then as he became the best golfer that lived, where the rules for him were different. Whatever he did was proclaimed great. And while he worked very hard to shield the prying eyes of the public into his private life, as is his right. no comments
The Braves struck quickly to replace their duo of soon to depart late inning relievers. Jason Rosenberg regards the signing as an early Christmas present for the Red Sox. Acknowledging the fortuitous news for Boston, David Pinto thinks the deal signals a win-now mentality in Atlanta. On a one and vesting one type deal, Billy Wagner is a solution for the problem that has long plagued the Braves. With a rotation led by Javier Vazquez, Tim Hudson and Derek Lowe, along with an aging face of the franchise in Chipper Jones, the Braves need to win now with what they have.
Boston meanwhile took Chris Carter, who was unlikely to play 1B or DH for them, and Eddie Lora a 1B who is a long way from the big leagues for a pair of draft picks in the top 40 and 41 outs in the 2009 season, courtesy Wagner's arm.
no commentsHelton remains an acceptable player as judged by offensive production, but he plays at a hitter’s position and as measured by FanGraphs player value tool has not out earned his salary in three of the last four years. He was such a good value in his peak years that paying for his decline was once judged reasonable. But bad contracts like this force Colorado to make other cost-saving measures like dealing Matt Holliday to the A’s last offseason.
Oakland sent a package of players for Holliday that included current Rockies closer Huston Street. Street will enter his final year of team contract control at the conclusion of the postseason. The Rockies have begun to make noises about signing Street, just 26 years old, to a contract extension that keeps him in Rockies pinstripes through his peak seasons.
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Elections in Honduras. Will they bring an end to the Constitutional crisis former President Manuel Zelaya fomented?
Troops for Afghanistan, but what's the plan, man?
The latest from Jason Reitman, touching down at a multiplex near you.
Speculation from baseball's hot stove, a college football coach is cashiered and will a former Super Bowl starting quarterback be joining him. no comments
More Climategate - The first story comes from the "About Freakin' Time" file. The much contested data that has been kept from the public eye will soon be revealed, at least that which hasn't been discarded. Ed Driscoll piles up a round up from the Climategate pixels, highlighting the "spot on analysis by the Anchoress" who sums it up : "Shake the centering pole, and everything could come tumbling down: Oh. My. Gawd! If the Gore-doubters were right about this, what else might they be right about? And if they're all stupid, and I'm smart, but they're right and I'm wrong . . . Implosion. If the true-believers of AGW got this wrong, and they'd attached it to all of their politics, all of their hate, all of their superiority, then everything is in a free-fall." Meanwhile Jim Treacher, who has a blog on the Internet, chats with "the global warming evangelist who lives in [his] head."
Make them an offer they cannot refuse - The senior Senator from Connecticut, who specializes in graft, has a plan for how government should deal with Wall Street.
Reading the data - The NY Times (via the Huffington Post) tells us that food stamp rolls have swollen to historical highs. But Mickey Kaus counters the claims that these new recipients of government aid are anything other than the folks who recognize that their need is now and that their preference is a paying job. "If you came across two societies--Society A, in which food stamps were stigmatized, with families reluctant to go on the dole even if they were eligible, and Society B, in which they weren't, you would want to bet on (and live in) Society A. It's one thing to relax the stigma on welfare in times of epic economic decline. It's another if the stigma doesn't return with the possibility of employment." Fundamentally, the society in which we live values the benefits of work. That's partially why as many of us take to our keyboards to opine in the hopes that our words will be weighed and not found to be wanting.
"[W]we may as well be a million miles from Washington." - Continuing with yesterday's piece on the Presidential pre-mortems that various pundits are undertaken, a chilling reminder of the necessity of basic competence is laid out in the linked piece from Real Clear Politics. The average person wants government to be functional and to in effect do no harm. Repeated scandals, over-reaches and brutally incompetent behavior will foment a once in a generation populist wave. Tom Schaller, meanwhile, writing at 538 investigates the trends in job losses on a state by state basis with an eye towards 2012's electoral map. Schaller fails to address the fundamental nature of current antipathy toward government. Nor does he touch on the tendency to over-react to a negative trend line. I'd argue the populace put their hope in Candidate Obama because he represented such a sharp break from President Bush. If President Obama fails to earn back the public's trust, the over-reaction to the Republican nominee in 2012, not to mention opposition candidates in 2010 may utterly undo the gains the Democrats have made in the last four years.
Speaking of basic competence - Majorities of that size doubting the fundamental efficacy of a government recommendation say in very loud words that the public is losing faith in the government they selected. The natural next course of action is to select a different one at the soonest possibility.
Bowling season is upon us - And while I am full of grumbles about my Tar Heels squandering a shot at 9-3 and a premium Bowl invitation, the howling that will come from SEC country will easily dwarf mine, as a host of schools whose records are blemished primarily by the top two teams in the nation playing in the same conference as them, will get bids to the modern day equivalent of the Poulin Weed Eater bowl.
The bitter residue of loss - Ultimate NYG ponders the fate of Tom Coughlin. A season of unfulfilled promise will lead a franchise to do that. The Giants victory over a previously undefeated Patriots squad in the Super Bowl seems a distant memory. Well, what have you done for me lately, punk?
McCourt saga rolls forward - Short version, he's broke, he says. Long version will take the rest of the winter and quite possibly the summer to play out. The young Dodger talent coming of age and achieving expensive status may end up being the wheat sold to keep the unsellable chaff. This story is going to get uglier. And we all will be watching.
Cuban import - Unlike Saturday's Future Watch, Aroldis Chapman remains an unsigned free agent. His raw talent dazzles scouts, but like many a flame throwing lefty with raw tools before him, the possibility for flame-out remains high. Caveat Emptor, baby.
Firesales galore - The Tigers may or may not be holding a firesale with names like Curtis Granderson, Edwin Jackson and even Miguel Cabrera available. The Marlins have been actively shopping Dan Uggla after moving Jeremy Hermida to the Red Sox. Added to the list are now Josh Johnson and face of the franchise Hanley Ramirez. Madden may be speculating about Hanley to Boston, but the early indicator is that teams with financial question marks are in a sell now mode.
Orderly procession - David Pinto ponders the league, player by player. One of today's was Daniel Bard, who in addition to being the Red Sox probable closer of the future (and possibly the now) follows the Tar Heel athlete tradition of sticking his tongue out while playing. Click through to see what I mean.
Print Shop! Remember that old gem? Single handedly printed every banner that my sixth grade class made. If only I could remember the newspaper program that we used to create the only two editions of "The Thompson Express" our class newspaper, which initially poisoned my veins with the journalistic virus
no commentsThanksgiving proper found myself, and the Brains of the Operation (Mrs. Tetreaultvision) visiting my Godfather, who made me an offer I neither could, nor would, refuse. Come to our place for Thanksgiving, enjoy the meal, we'll do the dishes. Those are my three specialties, eating, enjoying and being lazy. But returning home from the brief journey and still craving the ultimate in holiday benevolence - a home scented by a roasted turkey - we prepared our own Thanksgiving celebration on Friday.
One of the recipes we selected for our bountiful feast came direct from the doyenne of dishes guaranteed to deliver myocardial infarctions faster than you can say, how much butter is in it? Yes, the one and only Paule Paula Deen*. Since Deen Cuisine is heavy on the buttery goodness that contributes to the mysterious taste sensation called umami, and because the recipe we chose was a variation on mashed taters, and you cannot screw up mashed taters by loading on the butter, I figured what could go wrong.
In a word: everything.
First let's look at the recipe:
6 large red new potatoes, skin on (I used 9 medium yukon golds)
2 large turnips peeled
1/2 cup of cream heated
1 stick of butter melted
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
The instructions called for slicing the turnips and potatoes to the same size and boiling them together for 15 minutes. My first mistake was boiling the turnips and potatoes together. Sliced to the same size, turnips take a bit longer than potatoes. I sliced the potatoes into bigger pieces than the turnips, and the turnips still were undercooked following the time in the water. Then into our stand mixer, which was filled pretty well just by the mixed root vegetables. Using the whisk tool was ineffective, so I switched to the paddle. Gradually a mash formed. In goes the butter and the heated and sour creams. Salt and pepper join the party and they go for another spin in the mixer. The result is a soupy mess with large chunks of under-cooked turnips. And the taste, too heavy, by far. Too much turnip flavor as well.
Heavy is not necessarily a bad thing. Comfort food is meant to be heavy and touch on buttery, cheesy flavors that strain our belts and make the managers of gyms and health clubs see visions of dollar signs dance through their heads. A better executed comfort food potato mash comes from the wizard of bam, Emeril Lagasse.
Ingredients:
10 large russet baking potatoes
8 tablespoons (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3/4 pound bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled
1/2 pound sharp white Cheddar, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3/4 pound mild Cheddar, grated (3 cups)
1/2 cup finely chopped green onions
3 eggs, lightly beaten
First off, yes, this is a coronary on a plate. And yes, this is enough to serve a small army. They will ask for seconds. Best served with turkey, the lightest of all the meat options out there, it complements the bird adding a punch of savory flavor that will help you settle in on the couch and be dozing in no time.
*UPDATE: Me fail English, that's unpossible.
no commentsThe game stories, both from Raleigh's News and Observer and the Associated Press, fail to note how the Tar Heels lost to NC State in their final regular season contest. That failure reflects the nature of football's conventional wisdom. And failing to connect the dots between this loss and an earlier loss at home to Florida State leads to unimaginative coaches damning a mid-level program to remaining a mid-level program forever. Carolina has the resources to be a top-ranked football program, but with a series of uninspired head coaching hires, they've languished since Mack Brown led them to an eventual top five finish in 1997. Brown didn't see that team to the end, bolting to accept the head coaching job at Texas.
Brown was a coach willing to take chances. Current head man in Chapel Hill, Butch Davis, plays the accepted odds and this year lost a pair of winnable games that would have led to a bigger stage for his program. And the sad part is he lost both games the exact same way.
Against NC State. the 10 penalties for 122 yards didn't trip up the Heels. It was timid play calling with a small lead that did it. Up by 3, 24-21, midway through the third quarter, Davis sent Casey Barth out to kick a field goal. His team faced a fourth and goal from the NC State 3 yard line. The previosu two plays had moved the ball twenty-one yards, helping Carolina to recover from a damaging 15 yard penalty on the first play of the series. So from 2nd and goal from the 24, to 4th and goal on the 3, the calculus to kick the field goal is...what? That you can't not get some points?
Never mind that the difference between a three point lead and a six point lead in football is minimal. A field goal doesn't beat you, but a touchdown does. Never mind that the previous Wolfpack drive was a one play quick strike touchdown. The safe thing to do, the thing that avoids the criticism is to take the three points so easily given and set up your defense in the hopes that your highly ranked squad can shut down a team that has already beaten the average points allowed against you.
Flash back to the Tar Heels battle against the Seminoles. A nationally televised Thursday night soiree in late October. North Carolina looking to make a statement against the former power team of the conference and get back on track after two consecutive conference losses (interrupted only by a win in a walk over Georgia Southern). Up 24-6, North Carolina sees the Seminoles put up 17 straight points to make it a contest at 24-23. The Heels marched 83 yards down the field to get to the Florida State 9. On a 4th and 2, when the previous three plays earned 8 yards, Davis again sends Barth out to kick a field goal.
What sparks the frustration is that Carolina's selling point is a ferocious defense. Having the opportunity to pin your opponent deep, even if you fail in extremely short yardage fourth down situations invites your swarming defense to aggressively pursue the the opposition with their own goal line diminishing their wiggle room. Instead, Davis plays safe, and the opposition takes better field position and has a better chance to score the winning touchdown.
Maybe as a Pats fan, I'm spoiled, seeing Bellichick go for it as often as he does. Even when the gambit fails, the play becomes that focal point every memorable game has. The edge of the seat moment where you know everyone else watching has their attention focus in laser like precision. It's the play you'll talk about tomorrow and later in the week. Such daring is often rewarded, where lesser coaches will play safe and be forgotten.
Davis, by all accounts, has helped imporve North Carolina's program. But the key is not to help a program, but to turn a program into a perennial ACC Title - if not National Championship - contender. That's not happening in greater Tar Heelia. And that should never be acceptable.
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Oh the humanity - Photo linked from http://tech.blorge.com/
First up, Hitting to all Fields is a quick round up of stories I find interesting. It's bigger than the list of stuff over on the left, because I'm adding my two cents to the pieces. As Tetreaultvision covers a lot of ground, so will Hitting to all Fields.
Say Goodnight, Gmen - Andy Furman of Ultimate NYG sticks a fork in the Giants and determines, they're done. A loss in Denver does not a season end, ask Tom Brady, but a middling record and inconsistent performances from your best back (Brandon Jacobs they name is FAIL) and young receiver corps does not inspire confidence in a team's ability to turn it around quickly. They have the skill players to be dynamic and might squeak in at 10-6, but even that is holding out hope where it barely exists. In other NFL news Detroit and Oakland were who we thought they were. They both embraced the suck on the way to losses against the Pack and Cowboys, respectively.
Texas holds off the Aggies - Fantastic game in College Station. The Longhorns defense was proved somewhat suspect thanks to a remarkable night by a remarkable young quarterback. Jerrod Johnson ran and threw right through the Texas defense. The tightness of this contest may cause Texas to slip enough in the BCS rankings to give us a BCS Championship rematch of the SEC Championship to be played next Saturday. Florida and Alabama need to win their big rivalry games this weekend to set up that one and one. Alabama Auburn is underway this afternoon. Florida-Florida State is tomorrow afternoon.
More comment on the fallout of Climategate - Ed Driscoll of Pajamas Media crawls through the archives to remind us of a environmental disaster that also failed to live up to its billing. Remember acid rain? Ed does. And in connecting the dots notes a rather disturbing trends of shading and falsification among note only climate scientists, but supporters of statist policies. His piece warrants a read the whole thing advisory. Meanwhile, the Czar of Muscovy, writing from his throne at Castle Gormogon, cautions "[t]his information is far from being the stake in the heart that the Cap and Trade or Copenhagen vampires would need." The Czar remains one of the preeminent global sources of data regarded the proper staking of both vampires and peasants - the Czar fails to distinguish between the two until after the fact.
Lou Dobbs is running for President - The proof is in the pandering.
But at least you've got your health, right? - Byron York of the Washington Examiner looks at the facts and figures and concludes the Democrat strategy is to pass reform by year end, hoping voters have a short memory. That would work if only one odious bill was being passed. Congress is barely beloved even when it's quiet. With general unrest at government overreaches beginning with the two wars waged on foreign soil and continuing through massive deficits, increased structural debt, the takeover of finance and automotive companies, new potential taxes on energy, oh and the highest unemployment since teh Interwebs were but a gleam in young Al Gore's eye, a rush to pass a bill they don't understand that takes healthcare choices away and replaces them with mandates is destined to sear the memory on the minds of voters.
As the picture above shows, Black Friday deals are best enjoyed from the comfort of home. You can find a rundown of them here.
no commentsLeaked emails out of the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia have prompted a wave of criticism of the scientists who most vociferously have staked the claims that the planet is warming, that humans are responsible for that warming and that drastic, immediate action must be taken, like, you know, now, if the planet is to be saved. I've always been of the mindset that we lack the perspective to understand what this warming actually represented.
Was it as the supporters of anthropogenic global warming asserted the result of carbon emissions, or was it merely the cycle of heating and cooling common to our earth? How could we know? What reservoir of knowledge could we tap to successfully understand the variables involved and program them into models that produced graphs and charts and models that accurately foretold a world without ice caps and without Manhattan. no comments
This story, to borrow the favorite phrase of the siren-posting, plain text-scribbling, blogger antecedent Matt Drudge, is developing.
TheIndyChannel.com reports that Lakers forward Ron Artest is caught up in a welfare fraud investigation. According to the report, police raided the home of Latoya Holmes-Ivey, who claims no income and receives rent assistance from the government. However, Holmes-Ivey is Artest's sister, and authorities suspect she may have received financial assistance from her brother.
According to the Indianapolis Star, the executive director of the Indianapolis Housing Agency says Artest has not been accused of wrongdoing:
That excerpt is from the Huffington Post who linked to the original stories out of Indianapolis. Artest himself has commented via Twitter. Don Landrigan at With Malice will be following the story, as will Tetreaultvision.
no commentsThe New York Times gets the gold star for their inforgraphics of Thanksgiving recipe searches.
Seriously good stuff. As a mac and cheese afficiando (give me comfort food, or give me death!), the paucity of searches for it in the northeast brings much sorrow. Enjoy checking it out.
HT-Serious Eats
UPDATE: Edited the picture for size.
no commentsAnd Happy Thanksgiving Tetreaultvision, born unto us - a grateful, if momentarily oblivious, world this November. Since you no doubt have questions, fire away.
So what is this place?
Glad you asked, I'm a lapsed journalist, whose eagerness to express opinions has never flagged though his faith in his original profession surely did. This place is home to my opinions and comments.
How on earth are you qualified to dispense opinions?
I have a pulse.
You know what I mean.
So you want a resume recitation. Very well. I spent four and a half years in the self-proclaimed southern part of Heaven, better known to those without a modicum (North) Carolina Pride as UNC-Chapel Hill. The last decade has seen me working in sales and marketing for a tech company in Connecticut, fleeing the vocation for which I trained.
That, plus a buck gets you a coffee and McDonald's off the dollar menu.
True. No one is making you read, though I hope you do. The quality of my writing and calibre of my opinions will determine if you come back for more.
So what kinds of opinions will this place have?
Unusual ones. I believe in the remarkable sagacity of bucking conventional wisdom. Sacred cows make the best burgers. I tend libertarian, so my ideal of personal freedom from the mothering instincts of the "bigs"
The "bigs"?
Yes, big business, big labor, big religion, big media, big government and their ilk. They all have designs on what's best for us, as if their unfamiliarity with our uniqueness renders them worthy of charting that course for us. Big business insists we'd be better if we bought more of what they sold, you see that in advertising and marketing.
Wait, you said you work in marketing.
Subversive isn't it?
Dude.
Yeah.
Dude.
Anyway, my ideal of personal freedom from the mothering instincts of the bigs is what will animate much of what you find here. Derek over at Foxboro Blog was kind enough to publish one of my essays. The central idea was that the conventional wisdom of the pundits was not just wrong, but was arrived at for the wrong reasons. Punting of fourth and two was the right call to avoid criticism. Going for it is the right call to give your team the best shot at victory. Without getting too tedious, those kinds of choices are wrongly decided because the decision maker would rather avoid criticism.
Please tell me that's not all you plan to right about.
No, I'll be looking into sports, in particular baseball, business, technology, pop culture, and cuisine in addition to news and politics. I'll be upfront, I'm an expert in my own opinions, which I think are informed. But when I'm in over my head, I will stay silent until I get back up. And then you can judge my sources and my arguments for yourself as always.
So who do you like today?
Pack over the Lions, Cowpokes of the Raiders, Broncos over the G-men and the Longhorns over the Aggies. Oh and the Townies over the Rams
Who are the Townies?
My alma mater, one of the participants in the longest running holiday rivalry in Rhode Island, of which John Gillooly of the ProJo writes "East Providence-La Salle on Thanksgiving is a football game, a sociological study and a history lesson, all of which may be more important than ever for today's high school students. The final score Thursday morning will determine where both the Townies and Rams finish in the post-season playoff picture, but East Providence-La Salle is about more than touchdowns and tackles."
So that's it. Welcome. Hope to see you back soon.
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