"A doping scandal rocked the hallowed sport of pigeon racing this week after six birds tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Yes, everything in that sentence was true."Read more.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Pigeon Racing Is Just as Corrupt as Any Other Sport | Connor Simpson - The Atlantic Wire
Monday, October 28, 2013
Video of Carlos Beltran's Game 1 World Series Catch
Carlos Beltran makes an outstanding catch to rob David Ortiz of a grand slam in Game 1 of the 2013 World Series:
Why Nobody Watches The World Series
Keith Olbermann with a great commentary on why no one is watching the World Series this year and over the past few years in general.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Well-armed Mets have more on way | NorthJersey.com
You can never have too much pitching. Fortunately for the Mets, they seem to be in good shape there.
Friday, October 4, 2013
Life, Baseball, and Stand-up Comedy
Reading this piece by Patrick Flood reminded me a bit of my six years as a stand-up comic. I've written before about how Patrick Flood was becoming one of my favorite Mets bloggers with his dry humor and vivid use of language. I was disappointed when he disappeared from the SNY.tv blog network but happy when he briefly surfaced on Amazin' Avenue earlier this year before disappearing yet again.
Then his piece appeared this week, where he explained how seeing things behind the scenes wasn't as fun as those of us on the outside think it is. The piece is worth reading even if you're not a baseball fan, just from this start alone:
It is a great read and it really spoke to me because it describes my time as a stand-up comic. I took a comedy workshop in 2004 just to avoid having regrets 20 years later of how I could have tried to do stand-up but never did. After a six-week workshop and a "final exam" performing in front of a live audience, I found myself asked back to perform in another show three weeks later.
Eventually this led to other shows and other venues and even a few private events that paid money, although it was clearly a hobby. I even won 3rd prize at a company talent show, where I was the only non-musical act out of 24 performers. Four years later, in 2008, I took advantage of a layoff situation to try to make a career out of it. Unfortunately, that happened in August 2008 and with the entire financial system collapsing in September 2008, opportunities dried up since no one had any money for luxuries like entertainment anymore. I still plugged away but found that trying to turn a hobby into a job isn't as much fun because you're constantly stressed about the next opportunity, the next payday, when the big break is actually going to happen, is it going to happen, will the material get stale, how much material do I need and on and on.
Then in February 2009 I performed in a "bringer" show, where you only got stage time if you brought someone to the show. It was the day of a major snowstorm so no one I knew was able to show up. I had done bringers before but the producer would always let the comics that didn't bring anyone get a few minutes of stage time near the end of the show out of pity. However, I trekked all the way to The Comic Strip to do a show only to be told by the producer that I couldn't get my stage time because I didn't bring anyone. He wasn't willing to consider the fact that there had been a major snowstorm outside so the club wasn't full anyway.
As luck would have it, the headliner for that show, Ted Alexandro, was also running late getting the the club for, I assume to be the aforementioned snowstorm. I told the producer that if Ted can't make it, he can end the show but if he needs someone to stall for five minutes, send me on stage until Ted arrives because I have enough material to go as long as he needs. Just as the MC was about to close the show, he grabbed her and said, "Send Amod up there." Apparently he finally heard back from Ted that he was five minutes away. As you can see here, I ended up doing a six-minute set:
As I got off stage after this set, I saw the producer of the show standing with Ted in the back of the room. I mentioned a mutual friend to Ted, so he knew who I was. (My mentor from the job I left in 2008 is a deacon in Ted's church.) After the show, the producer told me I owed him for giving me stage time without bringing anyone to the club. I was tempted to say that I saved his ass from closing the show with the crowd never seeing the advertized headliner for the show. Instead I begrudgingly got the DVD of my set that I posted above and left to go home. I did send him an e-mail a day later telling him how I thought it was unethical for bringer shows to be strictly enforced. I also sent an e-mail to Ted because he was trying to unionize comics and I thought the barker/bringer practice was an issue. I wasn't surprised when I didn't get a response to either e-mail.
I also decided that I had had enough of this business. If I want to be funny, I'll get a job and add humor into boring and uptight corporate settings, which I'm proud to say that I try to do as much as possible now. If I want to do something involving public speaking, I'll stand and yell at a street corner, or go to strangers' funerals and give cheerful eulogies (don't worry, I haven't done either of these.) I have performed twice since then but both times were to help out my dear friend Judy Vincent in her stand-up pursuits, including one show headlined by the hilarious Vidur Kapur, one of the nicest people in a business that needs more people like him.
In a way, I still do stand-up, however it's the toughest crowd I could ever have. My audience consists of two people: my 7 and 2 year old daughters. And I couldn't be happier.
Then his piece appeared this week, where he explained how seeing things behind the scenes wasn't as fun as those of us on the outside think it is. The piece is worth reading even if you're not a baseball fan, just from this start alone:
"I have had my sneakers caked with the clay from a Major League Baseball field. I have explored an empty stadium in Florida in the rain. I have sat next to Keith Olbermann during a game and had a brief conversation with him about my hamburger. I have lent a pen to David Wright, and then used that pen to take tests for the rest of my senior year of college. I have tried to explain the infield fly rule to a middle-age man from Scotland who writes a rugby blog. I have successfully snuck into the background of postgame television interviews.
I have also tripped on the dugout stairs as Ike Davis was recording a radio interview, and believe his “whoa, easy there” made it on the air. I have fallen over the soft back of a sofa chair in the Mets clubhouse while trying to lean back casually, and then pretended nothing happened. I have seen far more naked men than I ever wanted, and barring an unforeseen career in adult movies, I believe I will die having seen more naked men in real life than naked women. And I have stolen a hot dog from the media dining room at Citi Field."
It is a great read and it really spoke to me because it describes my time as a stand-up comic. I took a comedy workshop in 2004 just to avoid having regrets 20 years later of how I could have tried to do stand-up but never did. After a six-week workshop and a "final exam" performing in front of a live audience, I found myself asked back to perform in another show three weeks later.
Eventually this led to other shows and other venues and even a few private events that paid money, although it was clearly a hobby. I even won 3rd prize at a company talent show, where I was the only non-musical act out of 24 performers. Four years later, in 2008, I took advantage of a layoff situation to try to make a career out of it. Unfortunately, that happened in August 2008 and with the entire financial system collapsing in September 2008, opportunities dried up since no one had any money for luxuries like entertainment anymore. I still plugged away but found that trying to turn a hobby into a job isn't as much fun because you're constantly stressed about the next opportunity, the next payday, when the big break is actually going to happen, is it going to happen, will the material get stale, how much material do I need and on and on.
Then in February 2009 I performed in a "bringer" show, where you only got stage time if you brought someone to the show. It was the day of a major snowstorm so no one I knew was able to show up. I had done bringers before but the producer would always let the comics that didn't bring anyone get a few minutes of stage time near the end of the show out of pity. However, I trekked all the way to The Comic Strip to do a show only to be told by the producer that I couldn't get my stage time because I didn't bring anyone. He wasn't willing to consider the fact that there had been a major snowstorm outside so the club wasn't full anyway.
As luck would have it, the headliner for that show, Ted Alexandro, was also running late getting the the club for, I assume to be the aforementioned snowstorm. I told the producer that if Ted can't make it, he can end the show but if he needs someone to stall for five minutes, send me on stage until Ted arrives because I have enough material to go as long as he needs. Just as the MC was about to close the show, he grabbed her and said, "Send Amod up there." Apparently he finally heard back from Ted that he was five minutes away. As you can see here, I ended up doing a six-minute set:
As I got off stage after this set, I saw the producer of the show standing with Ted in the back of the room. I mentioned a mutual friend to Ted, so he knew who I was. (My mentor from the job I left in 2008 is a deacon in Ted's church.) After the show, the producer told me I owed him for giving me stage time without bringing anyone to the club. I was tempted to say that I saved his ass from closing the show with the crowd never seeing the advertized headliner for the show. Instead I begrudgingly got the DVD of my set that I posted above and left to go home. I did send him an e-mail a day later telling him how I thought it was unethical for bringer shows to be strictly enforced. I also sent an e-mail to Ted because he was trying to unionize comics and I thought the barker/bringer practice was an issue. I wasn't surprised when I didn't get a response to either e-mail.
I also decided that I had had enough of this business. If I want to be funny, I'll get a job and add humor into boring and uptight corporate settings, which I'm proud to say that I try to do as much as possible now. If I want to do something involving public speaking, I'll stand and yell at a street corner, or go to strangers' funerals and give cheerful eulogies (don't worry, I haven't done either of these.) I have performed twice since then but both times were to help out my dear friend Judy Vincent in her stand-up pursuits, including one show headlined by the hilarious Vidur Kapur, one of the nicest people in a business that needs more people like him.
In a way, I still do stand-up, however it's the toughest crowd I could ever have. My audience consists of two people: my 7 and 2 year old daughters. And I couldn't be happier.
Analysis of Matt Harvey's Pitching Mechanics
Very interesting analysis by someone that was contacted for advice by Matt Harvey's father when Matt was in high school. I always thought Harvey had great mechanics but as the GIF from the link that I posted below shows, his throwing mechanics as a high school pitcher were actually much better:
Tuesday, October 1, 2013
If you hate Mike Francesa, you have to watch this great spoof!
This is hilarious! This guy's cadence and voice are just like Francesa. Probably all the same things Mike Francesa would say at the time of the American Revolution too:
Major League Baseball's Next Possible Commissioner
Yahoo! Sports handicaps the next potential commissioner of Major League Baseball, including this tidbit:
"George W. Bush. He once owned the Texas Rangers. He has expressed interest in the job in the past. He did run the entire country for eight years. And best of all, the worst war he could wage is in the labor department, so that's a step up."
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