On 10 other subjects...

Since I've declared a 24-hour moratorium on talking about the Giants loss yesterday (Paul already wants to trade Eli Manning...so there's good reason for it), here are some other topics/random thoughts...

 

1) I keep on going back to Bill Simmons' article on home-field advantage being a thing of the past. I think that it in large part has to due with officiating and the era we're in. In the past, a botched call from an official may get some attention on Sportscenter, a newspaper or a sports-talk radio show. But now, in the age of blogs and Twittering and 24/7/365 sports, a mistake by an official gets magnified. In the past, a team would get calls on their home turf (in any sport) because of this home-field advantage. Now the officiating crews are trying to be too even that I think they've gone over to the other side. In the Titans game, they got hosed by two big calls I talked about in my live blogging and which ESPN.com's Paul Kuharsky rehashes in detail. In the Giants game (hopefully last mention of this), the view from my seat seemed to say that the spot before that failed 4th and 1 try was not a good one. Regardless of if it was right or not, that's a call you usually get at home...

 

2) The other problem with home field is that scalpers have allowed in too many opposing fans. Yesterday there were way too many Philly fans in Giants Stadium (some unruly). I went to a Yankees/Orioles game this past season in Baltimore and the crowd was at least 60-65% Yankees fans. That doesn't happen without scalpers, Stubhub, Ebay and the like...

 

3) As pointed out by Peter Abraham at the Yankees LoHud Blog and Buster Olney on his ESPN.com blog, there are a LOT of good free agents still out there looking for minimal deals. The Red Sox got a plethora of players on cheap, one year deals. If they work out, it's a bargain; if they don't the risk is minimal. In this environment, it would behoove the Yankees not to go overmarket for Pettitte. With so many good pitchers still on the market, it wouldn't be fiscally responsible. For all the crap that people gave Brain Cashman about not offering arbitration to Bobby Abreu, it ended up being a tremendously wise decision. He would have made $17 million. In this market, he would be really lucky to get that for 2 years. Also, people like Jason Varitek should be ashamed of themselves. How stupidly greedy can you be? Not accepting double digit millions of dollars from this year will cost Varitek (and others like Orlando Cabrera and maybe Ben Sheets) millions of dollars.

 

4) Within that same article, Olney's theory on the Yankees trading their "draft pick" is brilliant. Baseball decided it would ban teams from trading draft picks to deny rich teams the ability to buy picks from poor teams. It's idiotic. Every other sport allows you to trade draft picks. And with the broken system they have in place now, who would it harm? But this seems to be a way to work around that. I wonder how long it would be before Bud Selig tried squash that deal. But you wonder if he would have any grounds to do so. I say the Yankees go for it.

 

5) What is wrong with some high school teachers??? The Boston Herald reported about a married high school teacher who had sex 300 times with a boy that was 13-years-old when the affair first began. This seems to come up a lot. They need a Chris Hansen Dateline "To Catch a High School Teacher". Sick. Not surprised it was a Masshole, though... (j/k)

 

6) The return of pirates is probably the coolest thing that isn't getting enough attention. Pirates! And they're bumbling fools, like the pirates we see in the movies too, as witnessed by this stupidity of Pirates supposedly drowning with the ransom money (that was parachuted onto the boat!!!) because they were all fighting over it. Wendy now alerts me to the fact the uncle of one of the pirates is upset his son drowned. Not the first time the Pirates have been inept (needed a baseball joke in there). But, seriously, Somali pirates are one of my favorite stories of the winter.

 

7) While watching Kate Winslet make a gushing acceptance speech a fool of herself at the Golden Globes, I came back to my theory on acceptance speeches: stop this bullshit. It's not like all these actors come into a room, unsuspecting of what's happening and have no idea that they may be presented with an award. They've been nominated. They usually have a 1/5 or 1/6 chance of winning. Stop this nonsense of "I didn't have a speech prepared because I didn't know I was going to win" or "I can't believe this...I have no clue what to say". It's baloney. Kate Winslet is a good actress because she made people think last night was genuine emotion. I thought it was rubbish.

 

8) Also on Kate Winslet...did she admit during her speech that she's having a love affair with Leo? On the set of the movie her husband directs? Sort of weird...Has US Weekly written an expose on this yet? This is huge news. Did her husband know before last night? Does he participate? Were they lovers during Titanic as well? Is the Brangelina all over again? So much intrigue!

 

9) Lastly on the Golden Globes, stop trying to impress with your outfit. Kudos to people like Mary Louise Parker for just showing off what your momma gave you and looking elegant in the process. Why do these people continue to look in the mirror and like these outfits? It's another reason why I really hate fashion...

 

10) "24" Last night was great (as have been almost all their opening episodes). Jack is back. Tony is back (we missed the personal connections). Janeane Garafolo is the new Chloe (though I'm sure we'll see the real Chloe as well at some point). Walsh from "Entourage" is part of CTU the FBI (with the same sarcasm). "Freckles" is the new hot chick. The guy from "That 70's Show" is a Senator who doesn't like Jack. The head of the FBI (like every guy who was head of CTU) doesn't trust/like Jack. Matt Damon's mother from the Ocean's movies is the President, Dean Walcott from Patch Adams is some type of advisor to the President (maybe Chief of Staff). Terrence Steadman from "Prison Break" and Cicero from Gladiator are even there. This is shaping up to be a fun season. We'll see if it's the last...