Friday, November 6, 2009

Fuck A Parade: A Position-by-Position Breakdown Explanation of Why Everyone on the Yankees is a Douchebag


There comes a time where every downtrodden Mets fan who hasn’t seen a meaningful baseball game since July 4th has to strike back. Here is my case: every meaningful member of the 2009 World Champion New York Yankees is a douchebag. I’m serious.

A.J. Burnett, P, The Frat-Daddy Douchebag: Both of his nipples used to be pierced and he has a tattoo of Bruce Lee on his leg. Need I say more? He is the baseball equivalent of every contestant from every season of Tool Academy.

Joba Chamberlain, P, The Hick Douchebag: Listen, I know in some places in America you can drink a little bit more before you take the ol’ John Deere or whatever out for a spin, but this fruitcake had a bottle of hooch in his hands while driving around Lincoln, Nebraska this past off-season. His mom was also busted for meth possession and suspicion of selling, which is just icing on top of this dysfunctional cake.

Mark Teixeira, 1B, The Why Not? Douchebag: This dude seems pretty okay, except that he has now played on four teams since 2003. He’s 29 and has bounced around this much, which is always a red flag, especially because he spent 2003-2007 on the Rangers. Since then, he has been a Brave, an Angel and now a Yankee. He’s baseball’s Gram Parsons, who was a Flying Burrito Brother, Submarine Band-er and Byrd before settling down by his lonesome and becoming a solo artist. Come to think of it, maybe being a Yankee is like being a solo artist. Interesting.

Robinson Cano, 2B, The Electric Wizard Douchebag: I just threw this in there to see if you were paying attention. Cano had an atrocious World Series and was not an important player on this team down the stretch.

Melky Cabrera, OF, The Fat Douchebag: I met Melky Cabrera at a child’s birthday party that I was working as a caterer at a few years ago. The kid’s rich dad paid for Melky to come over after a game, talk to the kids, sign some balls and eat some food. Melky, who was still a rookie at this point, begrudgingly signed a few baseballs in between shoving large amounts of pork in his face. You would have thought this guy was Babe Ruth the way he parked himself in front of a table and socialized with mostly just his family members as he shoveled half a full-grown pig into his mouth. He’s not. He was almost sent down to the minors the following season and currently looks like a Hispanic version of Violet Beauregarde from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory after she ate the gum that turned her into a purple balloon.

Johnny Damon, LF/DH, The Defecting Douchebag: I don’t care about Boston or Boston-area sports, but the way Idiot Jesus told the press that he would never leave Boston for New York and then literally did just that a few months later makes him a douchebag, even if he is an otherwise nice guy.

Hideki Matsui, LF/DH, The Japanese Douchebag: Matsui seems like a good enough guy, but bonus points for the quasi-racist “Gojira” nickname every Yankee fan seems to be dropping on him. He should hate this.

Derek Jeter, SS, The Mama’s Boy Douchebag: Anyone who smashes this much gash can’t be a fruitcake right? Wrong. The man who made it with Maxim’s Top 100 from 1999-2004 is so much of a baby that he won’t even defend his teammates in a fight because he doesn’t want to upset his mother. As in, he watches his teammates fight and says “STOP IT GUYS, KNOCK IT OFF,” instead of cracking skulls like he should be doing. Kind of makes you yearn for the days of Nolan Ryan putting Robin Ventura in a headlock.

Alex Rodriguez, 3B, The Rich Douchebag: Ahh, A-Rod. Arriving at this point in the column is like when you catch the 7 or 8 minutes of Alec Baldwin onscreen in Glengarry Glen Ross: pure bliss. Sure, the rest of the movie is pretty good, but this is the only part of the movie anyone ever remembers because Baldwin steals the show with his NYC yuppie tirade. Alex Rodriguez is the crown jewel douchebag in a sea of douchebags for a lot of reasons. His jealousy and failed friendship with Derek Jeter are the jumping off point. He cares so much what people think of him, even when he has won three AL MVPs and has hit a million home runs, like when he told a sports writer this year at a dinner that he wanted to order something that would make the writer happy. Wow. Which brings us to his steroid denial and then confession. In all fairness to A-Rod (there’s a sentence you don’t hear very often), most of baseball was probably juicing, and when asked, lied about it, but his snake-like avoidance of the truth seemed worse. Then there’s the pitch-tipping accusations when he was in Texas, where he gave away pitches to fellow infielders on other teams once games were out of hand, which adds credence to my argument that A-Rod really only cares about what his peers think of him. This guy sucks as a person. As a baseball player, he might be the best ever.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Beat the Mets




Look, I lived through a lot of Mets failures. I was 5 in 1988, still a kid and not yet ready to fully grasp the choke against the Dodgers in the playoffs. I was 9 in 1992, where the highlight of my baseball summer was getting visitor Gary Sheffield's autograph at Shea, a total slight as my highlight of 1991 was traveling to the Vet to see David Cone strike out 19 Phillies in a meaningless game.

I was 16 in 1999, too punk for anything except the Mets, as my father and I watched Kenny Rogers walk in the winning run against John Fucking Rocker and the Braves in the NLCS while my little brother freaked out watching upstairs. I watched from the same seat exactly one year later as the Mets effectively ended the Braves' reign over the NL East (kinda) only to get spanked by the hated Yankees in the Series. It was the 4th title for George's Boys in 5 years, and growing up in NJ, it was tough as every other kid was a frontrunning (that's what you are when your team actually wins) Yankee fan.

I was 23 in 2006, living in Park Slope, Brooklyn as Carlos Beltran watched a perfect curveball pass him for strike three with the bases loaded in Game 7 of the NLCS against the Cardinals. That one was tough, seeing as Endy Chavez made the best play in NLCS history (probably) a couple innings before to rob Scott Rolen of a home run. I thought maybe the decades of failure, choking and setting off fireworks at fans were over.

I was 24 a year later, now living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn when the Mets choked away a 7 game mid-September lead in the NL East, a seemingly insurmountable distance from the Phillies. I almost stopped watching baseball on September 30, 2007 when Tom Glavine gave up 7 first-inning runs against the Marlins, a game the Mets needed to force a playoff game with the Phils. They lost 8-1, and I thought, "hey, if I can get past this, I can get past anything as a fan." And why not, Red Sox fans did it for 85+ years. Cubs fans are still living this nightmare. It got worse though.

I was 25 in 2008, when the Mets blew it again, and this time, the salt was poured directly on the wound—the Phillies not only too the NL East, they won the World Series. Now, every team in the NL East had won one since 1986—save the Nationals, but come on, be realistic. The Braves had one, the Marlins had two, and now the Phillies, whose fans were and still are my mortal enemies, had one. This HAD to be the pinnacle of heartbreak.

It wasn't.

As I type this, the Mets are 10 games back in the NL East, in 4th place. Only the lowly Nationals, the team that can't even spell their team name correctly on their uniforms are faring worse than the Mets, and last night the Nats shut the Mets out! Jose Reyes is hurt, Carlos Beltran is hurt, Carlos Delgado is hurt. David Wright has 6 home runs (6! It's almost August!). Jeff Franceour is on the team. The future Mets, Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans and Fernando Martinez are nowhere near ready (butcher at 1B, hitting .243 with an OBP of .410; in the minors; on the DL, hitting .176 with an OBP of .242). Johan Santana pitches a gem every fifth day, but gets virtually no run support. The bullpen (still) stinks. The farm system is decimated. It's only going to get worse.

As I sit here, recalling my Mets heatbreaks, I wonder why my first memories of baseball are from 1987/88, AFTER the last Mets triumph, and definitely the most exciting one in their relatively short history. Why couldn't I have been born in 1980 and been a chipper 6 year-old, sitting next to my dad (still grasping to that rapidly receding hairline) as Mookie's slow roller passed through Buckner's wicket?

Good thing I'm not also a lifelong Knicks fan. Oh wait...

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Best New Artest



I don't really understand Player Efficiency Rating (PER) or how anyone can be a Clippers fan, but I do understand this—defensive specialist, current newest Laker and future New York Knick Ron Artest better get that Grammy shelf built right quick.

The King of Pop is crotch-grabbing in his grave.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Charlie Don't Windsurf on Lake Erie




Listen, I only took a huge break from writing about sports because there was no Charlie V. news once the Buxxxx were eliminated from playoff contention. Sike, I'm lazy and I was probably busy playing Galaga and watching the snooziest NBA Finals in history, followed by a "crazy" NBA draft.

When I say "crazy," I don't really mean crazy. I mean that when Minnesota takes 4 PGs, 2+ are obviously trade bait, and one of them is an insurance PG because he's 18, plays in Europe and probably won't come over to Minnesota until the 'Wolves can figure out if Flynn is the answer or not (if he comes over at all to MN). It really isn't that crazy at all.

The NBA isn't a big man's league, and it hasn't been for a while, and a true PG (sorry Stephon Marbury, Brandon Jennings, every other PG in the league besides Steve Nash, Deron Williams and CP3) is as important as a good QB. Ok, maybe not that important, but it's important. It's also more interesting when you have an electrifying PG that throws between the legs passes and assists off his elbow. And Electrifying means $$$.

So when all the talking heads on ESPN were FREAKING out when the 'Wolves took a bunch of PGs, everyone needed to calm down a bit. One of the lesser PGs (re: not Rubio or Flynn) was traded for a conditional draft pick to the Nugs, which is way more mind boggling than actually taking the PG. I mean, the Nuggets have a good chance to finish better than getting the 18th pick next year. I'd probably even put a sawbuck on it. So they essentially traded the 18th pick this year for the 19th-30th next year. Weird.

Also, these trade rumors are insane, and maybe we don't need 24 hour sports if the endless speculation from an "unnamed source" is taking up the airwaves. Rubio to the Knicks on draft night, Amar'e for Steph Curry the next morning, a 4X4 animal style for Eddy Curry, the list is endless. I think the team that gets the burger is the winner.

Charlie, good luck in Detroit. You'll have Ben Gordon, another high-priced non-All Star (thanks Bill Simmons) to round out the Pistons roster.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The World Needs Ditch Diggers Too



Greg Paulus, give it up

It didn't work out at Duke, where you missed out at being on the court while your team underachieved in the tournament again. 




You have a degree from Duke. What, are you going to get that elusive 2nd BA from Michigan? You can't major in Sociology twice.




Well, maybe you have a point in trying to re-establish yourself as a football player—there is a shortage of 6'1" 180 lbs. QBs out there...

Zeke the Plumber




Florida International, he's your problem now! Former CBA ruiner, Knicks ruiner and altogether life ruiner is going to coach the Golden Panthers—for free!




That's right, Pimp T is going to do you a favor and destroy your program for the low introductory price of $0! All you have to do is hate your athletic department enough to let this mad man take over your basketball team. This guy is a future recruiting violation in the making.

the Bulls logo is really a robot reading the Bible





this is old, but so is Gob.



Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Charlie Don't Fart


In footie news...wait let me start over. In soccer news, Chorlton Villa, not to be confused with Charlie Villanueva, or, almost the missing piece in the effort to get Vince Carter and Toronto a ring (hold on, i'm laughing too hard), got in trouble when a player was ripping stinks during a penalty kick. The player received a yellow card, and their opponent, International Manchester FC, was given a second chance at the kick. 

Coach Ian Treadwall was quoted as saying "This has come at a bad time in the season as we don't have sponsor and we are looking for a new sponsor for next season." No shit. Well, maybe some.


A (Gay) League of Their Own

Professional athletes are the least likely celebrities to come out of the closet because they have to maintain a macho image no matter what. Whether you are a linebacker or a utility infielder, you have to be "the man" when it comes to the field or the court or the ice. One thing "the man" certainly does not do is inhale man pipe.

Statistically speaking, there should be hundreds of gay athletes. Every year there is new speculation about who is secretly switch hitting. Here are the most gossiped about, possible closet cases in recent history. Please note that it is not proven that any of these athletes are official, actual homos.

1. Mike Piazza, C; Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets, San Diego Padres, Oakland A's



Mike Piazza HAS to be on the top of this list, for one simple reason: he is immortalized in a song about his possible homosexuality. Belle and Sebastian's 2003 album Dear Catastrophe Waitress has a song called "Piazza, New York Catcher," containing the following line: "Piazza, New York catcher, are you straight or are you gay?" A band that isn't even from America, that knows nothing of sports besides who plays defense for Tottenham Hotspur, wrote a song about his possible homosexuality, and that band has a singer with (possibly) impeccable gaydar. He claimed, back in 2002 when these rumors first surfaced, to be straight. Oh, he also had a Village People mustache for years and played the position with the gayest name, or at least tied for first with pitcher: catcher.


2. Kazuhito Tadano, P; Cleveland Indians


While Tazuhito Kadano only played in a handful of games for the Cleveland Indians, he actually did some gay stuff. The Japanese pitcher (although it looks like he's catching here) did a gay porn film before his pro baseball career, but claims to not be gay, and that he did it for the money. He now plays for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. No joke necessary.

3. Jeff Garcia, QB; Almost every team in the NFL


The problem with Jeff Garcia's gay accusation is that the "witness" isn't at all credible. That's right, your favorite attempted suicide victim and new favorite Buffalo Bill, Terrell Owens is the accuser. In a Playboy interview, he was asked if he though his former teammate Garcia was gay. He replied, as only he could, with, "like my boy tells me: If it looks like a rat and smells like a rat, by golly, it is a rat." How eloquent. Garcia responded by talking about his girlfriends and his future plans to get married. In Vermont? He neglected to mention that a girl once allegedly karate kicked another girl over him! So not gay!

4. Lennox Lewis, Boxer


Lennox Lewis was once accused of being gay, mostly because he lived with his mother and owned a poodle and was unmarried. Those are some pretty weak leads, even though poodles ARE pretty gay. Is it because his accent and Queen's English sounded fruity? The world may never know. Nevertheless, in 2000, this British former Heavyweight Champion felt it necessary to defend his sexuality against those who thought he might be gay. He used the same interview to announce his intentions to start an underwear range when he retires, whatever that is. 

5. Brady Anderson, OF; Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians


During the inaugural season at Camden Yards in Baltimore, my uncle, a Maryland resident, took me to a game. Because the Orioles were (are) so bad, he had time during the snoozefest to tell me that Brady Anderson was gay. I think I always believed him because he lived near Baltimore and I thought he was a rad dude. Maybe he was just fucking with me? Since then, I've heard whispers that he liked to get down with dudes, but I don't think there was ever a press conference where he could claim that he loved slamming clam. He did have a baby with a girl though. A hot one. So, you know, that means he is straight as an arrow.

parts 6-10 of this sweeping epic will be available soon. I know you can't wait for it.