The Maybes...

The maybes consist of players that either don't have the credentials yet and possibly will or the players that will definitely have to wait their fate for the Hall. If you have any others for me keep me posted!

DAVID ORTIZ- Needs 5 more good years to get in. Already closing in on 1000 RBIs and let's not forget about his postseason heroics.

BILLY WAGNER- 347 saves, 2.33 ERA, and needs some help with staying healthy and his team getting to the playoffs to add to his legacy.

SAMMY SOSA- 600+ homeruns and is a maybe! No speaka english!!!

MIKE PIAZZA- If he is going to get voted in, it will be only because his power numbers as a catcher are ridiculous. He will probably have to wait a few years, let's see how long it takes for Posada to get in.

GARY SHEFFIELD- Is closing in on 500 homeruns and is a career .297 hitter. If he doesn't get voted in who will he blame this time for this.

TODD HELTON- Poor guy has the numbers, but with me and the writers, is going to be the question that will get brought up every year he is on the ballot. "Was his stats tainted because of his career being played at Coors Field?"

ALBERT PUJOLS- Unless he forgets how to hit in the next 5 years he'll be a sure lock!

ICHIRO SUZUKI- He may be as important to the Japanese as Clemente was to the Latinos. Take a look at his career numbers and just imagine what they would be if he got to the U.S. earlier.

ALFONSO SORIANO- Still young, has championships under his belt and still has great power numbers. If he was a better second basemen he would be a lot closer now. Give him time to add to his stats and we'll see how he finishes.

KENNY LOFTON- Probably seven years ago he would have been a lock, but has fallen from his all-star status. He is still a career .300 hitter with more than 2300 hits and over 600 steals. I think that Kenny will be playing the waiting game for a while.

LUIS GONZALEZ- Approaching 350 HRs, 1400 RBIs, and 2500 hits. But at the age of 39 now it is hard to add to those stats. It is very possible that Luis might get some good guy votes and will get in at some point.

This just in...

I posted that the Michigan/Notre Dame rivalry will come to a halt in 2011 a couple days a go. Well, I guess that my posting must have stirred some serious talks to resolve the issue. Because today the top two programs all-time in victories have come to a 20, that's right, 20 year extension starting in 2011. So I am happy again to see these two rivals go at it for another 24 years of my lifetime. Way to go Athletic Directors!

The Probables...

These current players are going to most likely get in it's just a matter of when to me. These guys aren't locks because some will not be first or second ballot Hall of Famers, but will eventually get their due.

JEFF KENT- Is setting all-time power records for second basemen. A career .290 hitter and is closing in on 1500 RBIs. One of the great "era" hitters might cost him a year or two.

TREVOR HOFFMAN- Great career closer numbers, as he's on top of the all-time list. But, as we all know and ask Goose Gossage, relievers don't always get alot of love.

MIGUEL TEJADA- If he played in October and made more of a name for himself in the postseason he would be a lock!

MIKE MUSSINA- 244 wins, more than 2600 strikeouts, and has been a consistent pitchers during the hitter-friendly era.

JOHNNY DAMON- If Damon never left Kansas City he might have gone down in history as the most under-appreciated player ever. Career not done yet and is a .288 hitter with being a huge part of the Red Sox World Series run.

JIM THOME & CARLOS DELGADO- Both have the same resume. Both are in the 400 and 1300 homerun and RBI club. But, both are also apart of the power era so they might have to wait.

CURT SCHILLING- He either needs a couple more years to add to his numbers or one more World Series masterpiece to become a lock.

JORGE POSADA- Gets lost with all the high profile players on the Yankees World Series squads, but his importance of those championships has not gone unnoticed by me.

ANDY PETTITTE- Another very clutch pitcher on the playoff stage. Closing in on 200 victories and a year or two away from 2000 Ks.

CHIPPER JONES- 1500 runs and RBIs are in his horizon. Slightly above the .300 average and he been as solid a player as we expected from the moment he got brought up to the Braves year in and year out.

JIM EDMONDS- One of the best defensive outfielders of our generation. His batting and power numbers could have him waiting, but the 8 Gold Gloves won't.

ANDRUW JONES- Though he has his moments of occasional slumps, he has a few more years to improve on his power totals and 9 Gold Gloves.

My Locks...

Hall of Fame locks for me consists of players that have given 8 or more years of time to the league with outstanding numbers, championships are important(to me at least), and what they have given to the game. If disagree or agree leave your comments.

KEN GRIFFEY JR.- Of course, how can i not put my boy in! The best player of the 90s. And also, for a marque player like himself to go down with injuries and still put up the numbers he has is a lock in my book.

DEREK JETER- The kid really has it all! Numbers, great October performances, and being a Yankee, playing on that stage day in and out is much deserving.

ROGER CLEMENS- The greatest right-hander ever? From the talent that I have seen it's hard for me to argue. Walter Johnson? Bob Gibson? No sorry, the guy has done it for way too long.

GREG MADDUX- His creativity, knowledge, and work ethic without having an overpowering fastball has still got the guy 300 wins. Greg your in!

BARRY BONDS- He is going in! If I was voting I would vote no, but I'm a realist.

VLADMIR GUERRERO- Replica of Roberto Clemente? Vlad has done everything, hits for average, fields, has power, steals, oh yeah and I forgot has a canon fora n arm. Sounds like Roberto to me!

TOM GLAVINE- Another 300 game winner soon, was a part of all the Atlanta Braves pennant winners. No ifs, ands, or buts Glavine is going in.

RANDY JOHNSON- Some say if Sandy Koufax had his longevity they would have the exact same stats. Oh yeah, has a few Cy Youngs as well.

PEDRO MARTINEZ- Was there ever a righty in the history of the game to have a better 5 to 7 years of pure dominance in their prime? Pedro was the definition of electric, and that is what will get him in.

MANNY RAMIREZ- The guy can't field, can't throw, and can't run. But, his bat will put him in the Hall! Might have been the best right hand hitter in the game in his prime.

MARIANO RIVERA- If he was a great and still is in the regular season, he was dominate in October. It's funny to me that not many realize, that the Yankee's run at all those championships started when Rivera first got brought up.

ALEX RODRIGUEZ- Numbers, numbers, numbers! Who knows what he'll finish with, but will he finish with a ring on his finger?

IVAN RODRIGUEZ- If it was god that wanted to put together a catcher with Johnny Bench and Yogi Berra tools, he did it!

FRANK THOMAS- Now that he has 500 HRs, he is already a career .300 hitter and has 2 league MVPs. Your going in Frank, hands down.

JOHN SMOLTZ- Great postseason numbers, and has 3 years of being a dominate closer gives Smoltz the nod.

OMAR VIZQUEL- Ok, ok so this was my tough one. But, he might be better than what Ozzie Smith was and yes defensively too. Eleven Gold Gloves gets you in, I don't care!

MLB Hall of Fame

With the induction of Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn to the baseball Hall of Fame today i got to thinking. As the older we get, the players that we got to see in their prime and throughout their baseball careers are starting to get inducted. The older this makes us feel, also reminds us of how special baseball was to us and like our fathers before us we will one day be able to tell our kids that we were able to see these guys play at their best. While controversy with steroids lurks throughout the game we still have players that we wonder if they will ever get in to the Hall. Many of them are clean, some were not, and others will get snubbed because of the era they were in. And, of the players that could get snubbed, they would probably be sure things for the Hall if they put up these numbers 20 years ago. What I will be doing this week is giving my ins and outs for the Hall of the current Major League players with analysis on each of them for and against. Here's what the schedule will look like:



Tonight: The locks



Monday: The probables



Tuesday: The maybes

Rivalry taking a break?

I was reading a little on espn.com yesterday, and I found some very disturbing news. No, this has nothing to do with the dog-hater or the conspiracy in the NBA. Nope, this has to do with the Michigan Wolverines and Notre Dame rivalry taking a break from their regularly scheduled week three game coming in 2011. The contract, I had no idea that there was a Michigan/Notre Dame game contract, ends at the start of the 2011 football season with out a fight. Notre Dame has already replaced Michigan with Oklahoma for a two year contract playing at both home fields. Michigan from what I have read, is looking at the Big 12 for an opponent as well. Their Athletic Director, Bill Martin, told The Ann Arbor News that they will be looking to face a power house team, if they can't find it in the Big 12 they will look elsewhere. This story does kind of bother me. Being a Michigan football fan, on their yearly schedule I look forward to the ND game. It's a big game between two storied programs early in the college football season. I wouldn't say that it is Michigan's big rivalry game considering Ohio State and Michigan St. games are bigger, but I will miss that Saturday afternoon game between these schools. Especially after the beating that the Wolverines put on the Irish last year.

OK need your help....

I am designing my first beerdie table right now and I need some opinions. I just purchased the 4 x 8 table today and I'm starting the priming some time tonight. This afternoon I decided I am making the table into Michigan's Big House football field. And, to make it original where the cups are to be placed on the table I am putting the #'s of past stars for the Wolverines. So what I need your help in is deciding which numbers I should place on the board. Right now I have Desmond Howard, Charles Woodson, Tom Brady, and Tyrone Wheatley. Others that I have been thinking about were Anthony Thomas, Braylon Edwards, Irving Fryar, Tim Biakabatuka(not spelled right), Ian Gold, Jon Jansen, Steve Hutchinson, Mike Hart, Brian Griese, Elvis Grebak(not spelled right), Chris Perry, LaMarr Woodley, among others. If you have any ideas for me or others on your list it would be much appreciated if you left me a comment. Thanks!

Heavy's Red Cup Open Predictions

First off I would like to start off by saying that this is a farce that each team gets to play six games to build their Hall of Fame Points for a tournament with only seven teams in it. Or maybe, I'm just still pissed about adding only 3 points to my status in two tournaments when I was back. Either way I am going to build my very own table very soon and try and get these country folks to learn some other type of drinking games besides quarters and drinking every time the race car does a lap.

For some reason "The Red Cup" tourney doesn't have the fire I was looking forward to writing about. Maybe, again I am jealous that I won't be a part of it. Or maybe if the Farone brothers had a sac there would be more to write about. Especially when I thought that Chad and KO were one of favorites in the July 4th tourney. Chad step up your game!!!

Here's the picks with the top three advancing:

Sorry Bri and Pete, 6 games of drinking for Bri is not a good thing....out!

Cat and Heck, the highest weighed tandem in the history of Midland Beerdie won't cut it, plus Heck will want to drink the beer instead of trying to put the die in the damn cup!


You better hope that shots of Jameson aren't on the table for this duo. Pitbull and Nick might surprise some teams but I can't see them finishing in the top 3. Don't hurt me Marc but...."YOUR OUTTA HERE!!!!"



Three gone one more left and I am tossed between teams Hogan Bros. and Flocks of Geese. As much as I would like to see Mif and Gibby go all the way to the finals I find it hard to believe that Joe Joe will be denied a second chance at first championship. But, he does have a streaky player in Ronbo playing with him and if he plays like he did on the 4th they'll be all done. Also, the Hogan Brothers will probably spend much of the time debating on shots and who is suppose to catch the die in certain spots, as well as talking about their dislike for Shorty. Its a toss up but I am going with Maloney's all-time leading scorer and his sidekick Ronny to nice.

So that means I got the big three of Team Meat, Flocks of Geese and to my displeasure I am putting the tandem of KO and the little guy as the team waiting in the finals finishing in first place after the round robin. I hate to do it to ya Keith because I've picked you before, but I think that Chris is going to have his game face in full effect this weekend,(we all know what that face looks like too) and this could be his closest chance at a title with the small field playing. My condolences to team Meat I have yet to see Wrenn play yet and maybe this is a blessing in disguise KRG. If I don't pick you that is added motivation. So what I am going to do is stay with my guts and have KO and Shorty winning the Heavy's Red Cup Open over the likes of some geese.

Good luck to all the contestants and have a safe and well run tourney. Also, just so that y'll know "By the Beach Beerdie" is coming soon to the city of Palm Coast.

Finally # 2 and the #1 favorite comedy scenes

It probably could have been better but the finally two are here. I know that i haven't done this for a while but my computer hasn't been letting me copy or paste for whatever reason. The final two scenes are classics in my book. #2 I had to rewind at least 5 times before i finished the rest of the dvd. And #1 let's just say that if you put this movie on and all that you want to see is this scene, its a classic! So without delay here it is

#2 Will Ferrell in Old School



#1 Cheech and Chong in Up in Smoke

The Vacation in "The Den" in Review part 2...

On to the weekend...

FRIDAY: My first appearance at the tree house all week. Needless to say there was a lot of work to be done. For those who do not know, I am trying to sell me and Tim's house on North Colony Road and so things have to be in great form in case of a showing. For those of you interested in buying...small house, huge yard, nice deck, city park behind the property, and last but certainly not least a 15 by 10 foot tree house. A steal at 149,000! The tree house might come with a pig too, not yet determined. So worked there most of the day then traveled to Hartford with my date for the rehearsal dinner for Chris and Melissa's wedding. I've been out of Connecticut for 4 1/2 months and I got lost in Hartford. Sweet and not just lost, LOST! Everyone was at the church waiting for me to show up, 1/2 hour later I show and they waited. Thanks, that wasn't embarrassing! Went to the Hartbeat with the wedding party after to this sweet place called Vaughns, Irish Pub. Nice place, beers were kind of flowing and it was a good time, but I showed a glimpse of my dancing skills and the wedding party made me pay for it on Saturday. Good night, better tomorrow!

SATURDAY: Gotta chance to hit downtown Meriden Dunkin Donut early that morning before I went to Chris' brother-in-law, Cary's house. God, I couldn't think of a better reason why I live where I live right now. Meriden is in deep, deep trouble. It's so gross, and the atmosphere is so depressing that I walked into D & D and walked the buck out! While at Cary's we had a huge breakfast with some beers and champagne, this is 1030 in the morning! Off to the church, we show up, I didn't want to attempt to drive, and the church was locked! Lucky for us the priest showed up on time and we just were too early. The ceremony went well, besides the fact that I had to stand on a marble floor for a hour, 20 minutes with a 2 foot candle in my hand. After the church it was off to Old Saybrook for the reception on the water front, in a limo bus. Sweeeet! Pictures lasted not as long as I thought and the dinner was good, but I couldn't eat because I hurt my jaw somehow during the ceremony, so I drank...more! Dancing time and I was laying low, my date wasn't into it and I just wanted to hang. But then it hit me, I am outside and I here a beat that sounds very, very familiar. It's Michael Jackson, Billie Jean! You know your boy tore up the floor and danced with every mom in there, in a circle! Then I started feelin the floor. The lawnmower came out and the shovel. I was in the zone, you probably already know this. The rest of the night is pretty much a blur, I know that I went to Jacoby's and saw Kev, Kel, Chad (he was allowed cuz of a wedding that night), and Eric. And to top things off, I remember walking with my date up to bed, but Sunday morning I was on the couch! Damn!

SUNDAY: Woke up hurtin at 9 in the morning, again! Went to go and get my car and made my way back to the tree house for a day in East Hampton with Pabs, Tina, Chad, Cam, Justin, and the Pitbull with his wife Trac on the lake at my former boss' place. Lots of beerdie and drinking from noon til I left at roughly 6 for a trip back to the great Gary Owens pub. Safe to say this was the worse drinking day of my trip back. Frank Sims among others got me wasted! Couldn't talk, walk, but I could make it to the bathroom to yack after a shot of Jack Daniels....nice! Two times throwing up in Meriden, what a week. My good friend Chops brought me home but I wish that I could remember what time! Thanks buddy!

MONDAY: My last day, heard my phone ring 5 times that morning, but I couldn't move to get it. Hurtin! I had a lot of people to see that day because time was running out and I wasn't sure when I would be back in the lovely state. Rushing around seeing this person and that family member, before I knew it, it was 5 and I wanted to see my pops. And when I see him what does he do, goes outside to do yard work. Whataguy!! So I went out to help him and my mom made us dinner before I went to see the guys one last time back where I started my week, Pablo and Tina's. Everyone was there, all my dogs! Wasn't really in the mood to drink but did it anyway. Stayed there til about 1230 as they slowly started to leave. Got back to my place at 1, I sat on the couch, did a deep breath and said to myself..."Thank you for the safe week with the people that I have much love for." And went to sleep!

I would like to say thanks to a bunch of my peeps that was looking out for me all week:

Chad, Pablo, Marc, Kev-o, Kel, Adam, Keith and Nicole, Stef and Mif, The Rick, Chris, Justin, Mr. and Mrs. Farone, Chops, Frank, KRG, Rob and Ang, the new Mr. and Mrs. Hanson, Gary, Cary, Merry, Z, Shawn G, Kate, my parents, and of course ILL WILL

The time that I spent with Y'LL was too good to be true. When I left back in February, I didn't know that I would still have this strong relationship with everyone. I am going to miss y'll more than you realize and I'll see you soon enough!

Much love,
deez

Let's talk some second half baseball

Here we go, the countdown to October starts today. I absolutely love this time of the baseball year. Trade talks, division and wild card races, Sox and Yanks, and who's going to be MVP! A couple of blogs earlier I had said that I like the Angels and the Sox to fight for the AL Pennant, well how things can change. Here's a look at some of my predictions for the second half of the 2007 baseball season...

The Boston Red Sox will begin to slide the rest of the summer, but do not worry Sox fans so will the Yanks and Blue Jays. The Sox will pull away from the pack in the AL East and win its first division title since the Clinton years. It'll be hard for them falter, they are playing way too well for a team that has had their big dogs in Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, not putting up the power numbers that we are accustom too. Their starting pitching is too deep, and their bullpen is tops in the league. Red Sox to win the division by 9 games!

Barry Bonds will break the all-time homerun record without me watching and in his home stadium. Once he is behind 1 homerun to Hank Aaron he will not participate in any road games because we all know what will happen. I could really care less about this, so the only other prediction I have is that he won't break the record until the first week of August.

Unfortunately, the east coast will not be able to really watch on how the west was won. West Coast baseball in both leagues will be fighting until the last week of the season. In the NL West we have the Padres, Dodgers, and Diamondbacks in a tight race that I see the Padres from San Diego finishing in first. In the AL, my boys from Seattle will be pushing the LA Angels until the season is none. Too bad for the losing Angels because the Mariners will be getting into the playoffs winning the division on the final day by some help from the Oakland Athletics who will take 2 out of 3 games from the Angels in the last series of the year.

The Philadelphia Phillies will find a way into the playoff pool. I don't know how but they will. My guess is that the NL West are going to be beating the you know what out of each other the rest of the year and the losses will start to add up. Being only 4.5 back of the NY Mets, I can really see the Phillies making a push at the Mets and giving them some added pressure. But like I said, I do not know how but the Phillies will get in despite getting the 10,000th career team loss in July.

Here we go with the final predictions of the season:

AL East-Boston

AL Central-Detroit

AL West-Seattle

Wild Card-Cleveland

NL East-NY Mets

NL Central-Milwaukee

NL West-San Diego

Wild Card-Philadelphia

AL Champs-Boston

NL Champs-NY Mets

World Series Champ-Redemption...Boston Red Sox in 6

AL MVP-Ichiro Suzuki NL MVP-Prince Fielder

The Vacation in "The Den" in Review...

It is safe to say that in the next months or years to come unfortunately I will be using my vacation time from work to see the sites and sounds of good old Meriden, Connecticut. I could just some up my week in review as simply: binging! But, that would be a little boring. So I'll just give you a brief look at my week in the CT.

MONDAY: I arrive in Hartford somewhat on time and I am greeted by seeing my boys Pablo and Chad drive up to me in The Wolverine and Count Chocula costumes respectively. Oh, so this is how the week is going to start! We drove to Pablo and Tina's house where where a bunch of the guys and I continued to play beerdie til about 1 or 2 in the morning...nice, safe to say I was feeling it and this is how the week was going to continue.

TUESDAY: Woke up on the couch at Kevin and Chad's with no problem up at the crack of dawn and these jerks had nothing to eat in the house for deez. No car, no food, oh and by the way no Chad and Kevin. Kev-o slept in cuz he decided to close the store for 3 days, made sense...HA! And Chad was with the wife and I was dying for at least a coffee, something! Chad finally came brought me to the great Alan's Cup & Saucer and I was happy to say the least. Later in the day Chad decided that he needed some work done on his shoulder and I went for the ride well after that was done, the week really started. Instead on the owner of Pigtails to go back to work, he decided to have a best-of-seven game series in beerdie at Pablos at 4 in the afternoon. To make a long story short, I was down 3 games to 1 and came back to win the series. But, before game 7 I puked in Pablo and Tinas bushes that Tina found later and I think that I am still on her shitlist for. Safe to say we were there again that night and Chad decided to tell everyone that showed up that I puked at 530 in the afternoon. What are friends for, right?

WEDNESDAY: July 4th, Beerdie Tourney at Nicole and Keiths, just for me! Sweet right, not really this was the start of a real bad day! First tourney, The Rick and yours truly, two games and out, see ya bye! Me and Rick will never be teammates again decided by a huge panel after the tourney. After watching other teams still winning and advancing I watched, and drank. Second tourney, me and Kev-o, played alot better but a worse result as we lost are first two games by 1 f'n point both games...sweeeet! Onto, the bar. Kelvin, Kev-o, and myself (The Pitbull came too later on but he needed a nap) were going to be the only troopers of the night and were we ever. The drinks were flowing like wine and fast too. The next thing from that night I remember was some punk-ass kid who will never be named on this blog cuz you all know his name, ran his mouth and beer muscles deez was not having it tonight. As tempers flared and the tough guy got kicked out of the bar and I didn't, it was time to try and forget about what happened and shots started to get fired down by me and the people who were there with me. Another late night another early morning and we are on to Thursday!

THURSDAY: I was hurtin, thinking about why I drank so much and why I wanted to waste my time with this kid. HURTIN!!! Went and saw alot of family this day and also wanted a steamed cheese burg and look who decided to show up to work...Kev-o! After sitting around with a couple of guys waiting for my other buddy Chad to come in to work (didn't show until 230) Kev-o puts me to work and I go and do couple of deliveries for the kid. Why not, the baller paid my bar tab and tried to calm me down the night before, so I did it. After smelling of pure onions and burgers and whatever else, I went home took another shower and saw some more family members and had dinner over Mif and Stef's. This would be the only night I would have under six drinks. And that was Thursday...haha!

More to come tomorrow, with a wedding and more drinking and Billy Jean and much, much more!

Guess whos bizzack!!!

Your boy will be taking a long break from the country to go back to my hometown tomorrow. I will do the best i can to write some more in my free time. Few things I would like to comment on is the resigning of Mike Hargrove. Of course my jinxing of the Seattle Mariners works again as finally Hargrove has done something right finally in Seattle and now he's leaving. You know what, good rid dins! Hated the move from the start, now that he has things going in the right direction he can't handle the pressure of the players, coaches, and the front office. Give me a break Mike. You just don't want to be there if the M's fold going down the stretch, knowing that your reputation is at risk. See ya, bye. Hope that the M's can handle this, they have won 8 straight so we shall see. But, it never fails my jinxing of the Mariners, always!

Deez is back in Beerdie this July 4th and the field better watch out, because I will be there for one reason and one reason only, Hall of Fame points! My defense hasn't been great, but the cup is all mine and whomever is my teammate should be satisfied. Well, see ya in Meriden this week to readers, and I'll be back on here soon enough!