The SoapBoxers

Editor’s note:this article is being reprinted ver batim from last year. Chestnut did indeed win the 2009 contest and might run away with the title this year – as Kobayashi may be skipping the event.

While most of us revel in the fireworks of the Fourth of July or the backyard barbeque, I for one take in a sporting event unlike any other. It is my favorite hour of television for the entire year. The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Championship. 2009 ushers in the 94th installment of this major eating event. The contest takes place every year where it all started at the company’s flagship store in Coney Island on July 4. This year will be a fierce rematch of two-time champion Joey Chestnut against six-time champion Takeru Kobayashi.

According to legend, on July 4, 1916, four immigrants had a hot dog eating contest at the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog stand on Coney Island to settle an argument about who was the most patriotic. After ten minutes, Neer Sehgal had eaten thirteen hot dogs and was crowned the victor. The contest has been held nearly every year since, in conjunction with the fourth of July at the site.

To add to the dramatic theatre of the event, there is a weigh-in with the Mayor of New York City prior to the contest. On the day of the contest, the contestants arrive in the “bus of champions” and are announced to the eating stage much like Heavyweight boxing champions are announced in a Rocky Movie. Competitors arrive with props and the list of “eating accolades” which include world record holders in such culinary delights as hot wings, crab cakes, pickled pig’s feet and my personal favorite … mayonnaise.

It will be very hard to duplicate last years event, where Chestnut and Kobayashi wolfed it out bite for bite against one another. Kobayashi narrowly escaped a “reversal of fortune” at the buzzer, ( eating terminology for losing your lunch). After the end of the 10 minute regulation, both were tied at an amazing 59 hot dogs a piece. Next what ensued is one of the most exciting fifty seconds in the history of organized sport. This is way better than Elway’s’ drive against the Browns, MJ’s shot at the buzzer to beat the Utah Jazz, more climatic than Tiger Woods dropping in a long put to send the US Open Last year into a sudden death playoff. Heck I will even say it was better than the 1980 “Miracle on Ice”

I am talking about the monumental yet slightly constipating five hot dog overtime. Chestnut won, but Kobayashi immediately vowed to return to reclaim the Coveted Mustard Yellow Belt which ranks up there with the WWE title belt in terms of prestige.

“Each July Fourth I am thrilled as an enormous crowd gathers in front of the original Nathan’s Famous,” said Wayne Norbitz, President and COO of Nathan’s Famous, Inc. “We value our association with this great American holiday and I appreciate the fans, who come from around the world to witness the spectacle first hand while millions more watch on ESPN.”

Last year, Coney Island authorities stated that 40,000 fans crowded the corner of Surf and Stillwell Avenues in Coney Island to witness Joey Chestnut’s rematch with Takeru Kobayashi. Amazingly, more than one million households tuned in to the contest’s live telecast on ESPN.

To add to the spectacle this year The 2009 contest will be preceded on July 3 by a hot dog bun eating contest, in which three professional eaters will take on three semi-professional eaters..elephants from Ringling Brothers Circus.

Vegas has the Pachyderms as the early morning line favorite.

I for one know exactly where I will be at high noon come this Saturday. Smack dab in the middle of my couch watching the battle for the bejeweled mustard belt…likely while enjoying a wonderful Johnsonville bratwurst and a beer.

Have a Happy and safe fourth of July!

The impact sent the bucket of Gatorade crashing to the floor, covering the concrete with a sticky yellow mess.

Colton Zephyr spun around and directed his venom at a human target.  He zeroed in on his third baseman, Gary Butler.

“You cost us the game,” he yelled.  “You stupid little butthead.”   Zephyr got a firm grasp on the bat and took a stride toward Butler.  As he prepared to take a swing at the defenseless player, three teammates tackled him.

Perennial All-Star Gordon Howard took the lead.  “You’re coming with us, Volcano,” he said as he gave Zephyr a shove back toward the clubhouse.  When they reached the clubhouse, Howard shoved Zephyr into a storage closet and locked the door.  “Stay in there and cool down, Volcano.  Someone will check on you after the game.  Maybe.”

With no further eruptions from Colton “Volcano” Zephyr to distract the team, the Bears clawed their way back into the game before Gary Butler and Gordon Howard hit back to back jacks in the ninth to send the fans home happy.

As he watched his team celebrate the hard-fought win, Skipper McGee headed back toward the clubhouse to take care of business.  He unlocked the closet and marched Zephyr back to his office.  The manager collapsed into a chair on the opposite side of the desk from the pitcher.

McGee thought about the situation for a moment.  A couple of years ago, Colton Zephyr had been a top shelf starting pitcher – a rising star in the league.  Some observers felt that the Bears had achieved a coup by retaining Zephyr at a cost of $90 million over 5 years.  It was a lot of money, but the New York Bombers seemed willing to pony up even more cash.

Zephyr had always been an excitable player, but halfway through his contract, he was becoming a serious distraction to the team.

McGee looked up at Zephyr.  The pitcher glared back at him.

“Colton, my boy, we need to have a talk.  You’re becoming a serious distraction to the team.”

Zephyr interrupted his manager.  “Yeah, yeah.  I’m sorry.  It won’t happen again.  I’ll get some counseling.  Yadda yadda yadda.”

“You’re right,” agreed McGee.  “It definitely won’t happen again with the Bears organization.  The boys upstairs made the decision several months ago.  The next time Volcano erupts, he’s gone.  The Bears are going to sever ties with you.”

Colton Zephyr laughed hysterically.  “Is that supposed to be a punishment?  I get to escape from one of the worst teams in the league!  It’s a guaranteed contract, so you still have to pay me.  Thanks for cutting me loose, Skip.  Just cut me my check and I’ll be on my way to the bank.”

“No so fast,” countered Skipper McGee.  “Actually, you’re going to retire from baseball and forfeit the money left on your contract.”

Zephyr laughed.  “Walk away from $45 million?  Why would I do that?  You’ve been out in the sun too long, Skip.  You’re getting a bit soft in the head.”

“We discussed this with our in house counsel …”

“And the quack lawyers told you that you had a leg to stand on?  Forget it, Skip.  The money is guaranteed and the union will crucify you if you try to steal it from me.”

“We had them review video footage from your previous incidents.  In their opinion, you have committed no fewer than six felonies and a dozen misdemeanors.  If we were to turn the videos over to the district attorney and have your teammates serve as corroborating witnesses, you would be facing some serious time behind bars.  Twenty years was the conservative estimate.  If you walk away from the game and leave the money on the table, we’ll keep the DA in the dark.”

“You can have the $45 million,” continued McGee, “or you can have your freedom.  The choice is yours.”

here.  And now, the conclusion …

My mom came the next morning.  My daughter was already up.  I was standing in the kitchen with my mom and I started crying.  My daughter was standing in the hall looking at me and wondering what was wrong with mommy.  My mom told her that mommy would be alright.  I told my daughter that too although I didn’t believe it.

My husband and I parked in the ramp.  When I was walking across the sky walk and the hall towards the elevator, I felt like I was walking to my doomsday.  I was here to lose my baby.  I told my husband I can understand the blood sugars being good if I wasn’t pregnant, but I didn’t understand how my blood pressure could be so low if I wasn’t pregnant.  Pregnancy causes low blood pressure in the first trimester.  I said I had been sick too, but not like I had been with our daughter.  We checked in with the guy I like at reception.  I could tell he could see what I was there for even though he didn’t say anything.  They must have had my appointments in the computer backwards, but he quickly corrected it so that I had the ultrasound and then saw the OB.  He didn’t say he was doing that, but I could tell from what he did say.  He was friendly and professional, but not quite the same as he had been in the past.

We went to the waiting room to wait to be called by the sonographer.  There was one lady in the waiting room.  I tried watching TV to take my mind off everything.  It didn’t work.  I don’t like crying in public or in front of others, but I broke down and started crying.  The lady ignored me and kept reading her magazine which I was thankful for.  They called my name.

The sonographer had to do a vaginal ultrasound since it was early in the pregnancy.  She found the baby right away and the baby was alive and seemed ok!  I was so happy!  I asked if the baby was ok and she said that she had to take all the usual measurements and dopplers.  Everything looked good!  It was too early to tell if it was a boy or girl.  She determined that the OB had been looking at a cyst or fibroid.  We knew that I had that from the 7 week ultrasound.  Even with my tipped uterus, the sonographer found the baby right away!  We were sent back to the waiting room.  The lady was still in there.  A few more people were in there too.  I called my mom and told her that the doctors were wrong and that the baby was fine!  I saw the lady smiling.  I called my dad to tell him the good news.  I called a friend at work.  She had a sad voice when she answered, but then was excited when I told her the baby was fine.

We went to a room and waited for the OB.  She came in and was so happy that she was wrong and the baby was fine.  She was going to let my OB know.

We went home.  I was so tired, but too keyed up to take a nap.  My mom went home.  My husband worked downstairs.  I took care of my daughter.  My daughter took a nap in the afternoon.  I tried to take a nap, but I couldn’t sleep even though I was very tired.  Even though we received the best news that our baby was ok, I was still shaken at the thought of losing my baby and everything I went through.

I e-mailed my OB also as I had a question if she wanted to see me in 3 or 5 weeks since she was out of town in 4 weeks.  She e-mailed me back and said she was so happy and she almost had tears in her eyes.

This incident still shakes me up and still makes me cry sometimes when I think about it even though everything turned out ok.  I am so happy to have my happy and healthy baby boy today.  My baby boy is 6 months old.  I always wanted children and knew I would cherish them.  I may even cherish my children more due to the hardships I went through to get pregnant with them both, the high risk pregnancy and complications with my daughter, all of the additional tests and things for my son due to my first high risk pregnancy, and this “complication” with my son of walking to my doomsday.

part 2.

What is the deal with all the hype? I mean the guy has a .500 record so far in the bigs. What is all the fuss about? Another conspiracy by ESPN to overhype a young player before he has proven a thing?

Of course I am talking, just like everyone else is, about Stephen Strasburg.

I am already getting sick of Strasburg Mania. He is outpitched last night by Tim Hudson of the 1st place Braves, and all you hear about is Strasburg. Never mind the 5 hit gem that Hudson threw, how he surgically dismantled the pathetic Washington Nationals.

Strasburg for the All Star game! Wow, he has what 5 starts? And a 2-2 record? Sounds like all star stats to me. But the idiotic fans, most of which know nothing of baseball will vote, (it normally coincides with the baseball card market and value and popularity of players and has nothing to do with their actual performance on the field) so it will be interesting to see if he makes it in.

So before you all go out and spend all of your hard earned money on Strasburg rookie cards, let’s look at the facts

1. The Nationals SUCK. They have some nice young talent but they are still a horrible team with no real pitching, very average hitting and average defense. This could change drastically in 3-5 years IF some of their draft picks continue to pan out and the organization would spend some money and get some better players into the house
2. Strasburg is a pitcher! Why all the hype about a pitcher. I have a few words for all of you. Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Dontrelle Willis, and yes even Carlos Zambrano. All of these guys viewed as super studs and where are they now? All it takes is one arm injury and that is it, it is over. I would lay my money on a hitter any day over a pitcher.
3. He is 2-2 with a 2.27 ERA. Strasburg can put up great numbers all year but it gets back to point #1. If the club can’t score and can’t play defense, he can’t win games no matter how good he might pitch.
4. They need to be careful with him. Gone are the days when guys pitched complete games every night out. He will be on strict pitch counts every night and they will not overwork him. The Nationals cannot afford to. Can you imagine the gloss we would all be hearing if he got injured? Man it would make the Tiger Woods saga look like a back page story …

Of course I could be wrong, he could break Cy Young’s record of 511 wins … but I highly doubt it.

Go Nats!

There has been a lot of blather on all of the electronic media about the resignation of General McChrystal. Mostly the discussion centers on whether the President should have fired him or not. Although this can be an entertaining pass time, the President did not fire him, he offered his resignation which was accepted. For most people this is a distinction without difference, but it is actually very important. By resigning, the general did not have to accept blame for any failures of his policy or of his judgment and the President can avoid an inquiry by the Senate.

Let’s look at the last activity first. Anyone who has been approved by the Senate for a position, must also be reviewed by the Senate to be removed, except by death or resignation. As a four star general, McChrystal was doubly approved by the senate, first for his stars and second for his command. Even with his party firmly in control of the Senate, the President would have to present evidence (at least some of it publically) as to why he and the Senate had wrong in appointing this man to this task. Remember, for a general, firing is a dishonorable discharge, which mean forfeiting his retirement as well as the disgrace of the action. That is why you can count on one hand the number of general officers discharged from duty (namely McClellan by Lincoln and MacArthur by Truman).

Now on to the blame issue. Many conservative spokesmen have focused blame for this entire episode on the President. As the Commander in Chief, he is ultimately responsible for the actions of his generals. That is why he has authority over them as a civilian. Regardless of whether I like the outcome of this last week, the President is not to blame for what happened. If he had not accepted the resignation, he would have been retaining damaged goods as far as the congress, the media and more importantly the troops were concerned.

The general is responsible for his own actions. I feel that the mistake he made was allowing a reporter from Rolling Stone Magazine into his inner circle for what appeared to be about six months. Over that time period, any number of minor things can add up to become embarrassing. If you have not read the article, you can find it at http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/119236. It is an amazing article for many reasons; it is the longest article that Rolling Stone Magazine has ever published about anyone who was not a rock star, it adds up to very little content compared to the firestorm of commentary that it has generated, and it is self contradictory.

Let’s summarize the content.

1. The general complains about attending an official dinner with a French minister, and un-named advisor calls the minister gay.
2. The general is trying to prepare for questions from Vice President Biden, and un-named top advisor slurs the Vice President’s name to “Bite Me”
3. The general met with the President early in his presidency and a “source” reported that the genera described the President as uncomfortable and intimidated by the uniform officers.
4. Four months later at a one-on-one meeting with the President, the general suggests that the President was unprepared and unengaged. No source is sited for this quote.
5. The general’s staff likes to poke fun at the civilians involved in the war effort, except Hillary Clinton. This is portrayed as a direct attack at the President.
6. The general wanted more troops. When this report was leaked it was the general’s fault. Ambassador Eikenberry sent a report that was critical of the general. When that was leaked it was the general’s fault.

All of this adds up to nothing.

The article is self contradictory because it states that the general was guilty of being a mouthpiece for the Bush administration and equally guilty of not being a mouthpiece for the Obama administration

The article suggests that the general’s career should have ended long ago, specifically as a result of him being the commander during the Pat Tillman friendly fire incident and cover up as well as his part in the command structure during the prison abuse events in Iraq. The direct connection to general McChrystal is established for the Pat Tillman incident, his part in the power structure for the prison abuses is simply darkly insinuated.

The real reason that the general was pushed into offering his resignation was ultimately because of a perceived failure of his strategy. The implementation of a medal for “Restrained Bravery” for not firing upon suspects based on where they are standing caused the loss of confidence of his soldiers. His inability to show progress created doubt in the political forces that exist. And finally, he did not provide the President with what was promised in the campaign, a way out of Afghanistan. Failure of strategy, even with limited loss of life, has always been a career killer in the armed forces. The only quicker way out is to disobey direct orders – but then you get fired.

Image via Wikipedia

I’m a firm believer that lowering the stress in your life will help you live longer.  The best way to do this is to make your attitude more positive.  But how do you do this?

Work to live, don’t live to work. I work for a great company and enjoy my career.  However, I don’t let it consume my life.  When I’m away from work, I try not to think about it very much (other than those time when the phone rings at 2 AM and I have to help resolve a production problem).

Get a hobby. Having a hobby can take your mind away from problems for short periods of time.  It can be following a sport, mountain climbing, or stamp collecting.  It’s not terribly important that the hobby is, just that there is a hobby.  I have a few hobbies in my life.  Obviously, The Soap Boxers is my biggest hobby, and I am also a rabid baseball fan.

Spread happiness. A good mood can be contagious, so try to spread it around.  I generally try to get a few people to laugh every day.  I like to pipe up with a random “whutup, dawg?” as a greeting as some point in the day.  It’s a complete departure from my normal manner of speaking, and usually catches a person off guard.

Make your workplace a less dreary environment. Like it or not, you will spend a lot of time at work over the course of your lifetime.  First and foremost, find a way to get along with your co-workers.  They don’t have to be your BFFs, but if you can comfortably chat with them around the water cooler, it will be easier to work with them when the stress level is higher.  If you have some control over your work environment, customize it to make it less of a downer.  I have worked in a cubicle for the last 13 years.  I’m one of those people who over-customize their cubicle.  I have a parade of small animals lined up on my cubicle walls.  During a high stress situation, looking up and seeing the T-Rex stalking the squirrel puts a smile on my face.  My co-workers are also amused by the animals.

Music, baby.  MUSIC. Music can be a huge key to happiness.  There are a few “happy songs” that can pull me out of just about any bad mood.  Off the top of my head – Take it Easy by The Eagles, Let it Be by The Beatles, Fins by Jimmy Buffett, and Cheap Seats by Alabama.  If I can get those songs going through my head, my mood will almost certainly improve.

Finally, realize that some things are simply beyond your control.  Example: you have plans to go to a baseball game this weekend.  There’s a massive storm cell threatening the area.  If your city gets pounded by the storms, the game is going to get rained out and your weekend will be ruined.  This is a bad situation – but what are you going to do about it?  You can’t control the weather … so just let things unfold and make the best of the situation.  There’s no point in getting stressed out over something as uncontrollable as the weather.

The running back started to the left, then cut back to the right and had just broken into the open field when the television screen went dark – along with all of the lights in the house. The blizzard had been causing intermittent power outages, but it soon became apparent that electricity would not be returning tonight.

Steven immediately focused his attention on the highest priority task. He grabbed his crutches and hobbled around the house in search of a portable radio. He was convalescing at Amy’s house and was still figuring out where things were located. Ten minutes later, he was in possession of a state of the art boom box, circa 1985. The radio was even equipped with dual cassette decks (for easy dubbing, according to the manufacturer). Steven popped open the battery compartment and saw that he would need 4 D batteries.

His battery search bore fruit when Steven stepped into Amy’s “game room”. The room held dozens of board games, puzzles, golf clubs, a croquet set – anything you needed to have a good time. Steven could spot a cache of batteries on the top shelf of a closet in the room. He put all of his weight on his strong leg and reached above his head. He was able to reach the batteries, but they came down in a less orderly fashion than he would have preferred – the box of batteries conked him on the head on the way to the floor.

Steven grabbed a handful of D cell batteries and quickly had the radio tuned to the game. He looked around the room and saw that the pieces to a jigsaw puzzle had been laid out on coffee table in the middle of the room. Amy was crazy about puzzles – there were probably a hundred of them in the closet.

Steven decided to take a shot at the puzzle while he listened to the game. He took a seat on the floor and positioned his legs under the table. He began the task by separating out the outside pieces.

Two hours later, the football game was over – and Steven was becoming increasingly frustrated at the puzzle. He had only been able to put together bits and pieces of the outside of the puzzle. He had assembled some interior pieces, but he struggled to figure out how they went together. He had one chunk that pictured snow capped mountains, other pieces that showed a herd of elephants, and another portion an amusement park in a state of neglect – with roller coaster tracks that had begun to break into pieces and fall back to the ground. Other pieces didn’t seem to fit at all.

Steven was lost in his thoughts as was started when he heard the sound of a cough coming from the doorway. Amy had returned from work.

Steven smiled and looked up at Amy. “Finally, someone who can answer the great mystery of the universe. What the heck is this puzzle supposed to be.”

Amy laughed before responding. “Oh, dear. I hope you haven’t wasted much time. Those are all the extra pieces I found on the floor of the closet when I did spring cleaning. You’d got parts of at least a dozen puzzles.”

The fisherman cast his line into the water and grabbed a cold beverage from the cooler.  He cracked open the beer and  took a sip.  Truly, there was nothing in this world that was better than fishing from the river bank on a lazy summer day.

“Hey, Slugger, look alive.”

Slugger McCoy shook himself away from his day dream.  He was the designated hitter in this game, and his mind tended to wander between at bats.  He really wished that he could play in the field and be more involved in the action.  Even better, he wished he was fishing from a river bank on a lazy summer day.

A few minutes later, McCoy was taking a practice swing and stepped into the batter’s box.  A fastball came flying toward him at 95 miles per hour.  Slugger took a mighty swing at the pitch.  The bat made solid contact with the ball, propelling the white sphere into the center field bleachers.  Slugger pumped his fist as he rounded first base.  When he reached home plate, he was buried under a pile of humanity, as his teammates congratulated him and celebrated the team’s first title in thirty years.

“Paging Dr.  McCoy.  Dr. J.B. McCoy, please call extension 182.”

Dr. J.B. McCoy shook himself awake from a cat nap in the doctor’s lounge.  He had just finished a marathon surgery and the page likely meant that he would be heading back into the OR and picking up the scalpel again.  McCoy enjoyed his job – the money was good, and knew that his work had saved the lives of countless patients over the years.  He was at the pinnacle of his profession.  Still, every now and then, he wished he could have been a bit better baseball player and been able to play in the major leagues.

When McCoy answered the page, he found out that he was needed for an emergency surgery.  There was no time to waste – he needed to report to the OR on the double.  “I can sleep when I’m dead,” he muttered.  McCoy quickly finished his coffee and headed toward the operating room to save another life.

Jack McCoy felt a tug on the line and was now completely awake.  He’d only had a couple of nibbles all day, but this one seemed like the real deal.  He and the fish renewed the timeless battle between fish and angler.  Over the years, Jack McCoy had quite often been on the winning side of the battle – but many other times had seen the fish escape to live another day.  This time, McCoy emerged as the victor, reeling in a five pound bass.

McCoy was enjoying his retirement – spending many lazy summer days fishing from the riverbank.  Still, he couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if he had followed his dream and gone to medical school instead of following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and becoming the third generation owner of the local hardware store.

The Florida Marlins seem to be in the news a lot this year.  Earlier in the year, All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez was benched after showing lack of hustle on a play.  Ramirez accidentally kicked a ball while fielded it, then allowed two runs to score as he ambled after the ball.  Ramirez then lashed out at manager Fredi Gonzalez, as if Ramirez was the victim.  After Roy Halladay’s pefect game, the Marlins announced that they would be selling unused tickets to the game (and there were many of them, as is the case with all Marlins home game) at face value – effectively killing the value of the tickets that had been purchased by die-hard fans who actually attended the game.

On Wednesday, the Fish fired manager Fredi Gonzalez in spite of the fact that the Marlins were actually still in contention – in spite of the ongoing efforts of ownership to trade good players whenever they get to the point of earning a large salary.  It’s not the first time that the Marlins have axed a manager who was producing solid on-field results.  In 2006, the Marlins had a payroll of just $14 million – lower than the salaries of several players, and 1/5 the payroll of most team.  Nonethleless, first time manager Joe Girardi led the team to a 78-84 record and kept them in contention for a playoff spot late into the season.  This was substantially better than anyone would have expected prior to the season, and Girardi was named National League Manager of the year.  By the time the award arrived on his doorstep, he had been fired.  Things worked out OK for Girardi, though.  He’s now the manager of the Yankees.

What got me riled up the most, however, was the news that the Marlins were bribing their fans to cast All-Star votes for the Marlins.  If you case 200 all-Marlin ballots, you get two free tickets to a Marlins game.  If you cast the most ballots, you get access to a suite at a Marlins game.  The Marlins say that other teams also make a push to have fans vote for their player, but Florida is much more aggressive than other teams.  I don’t even like the fact that people can easily vote 25 times online because of how it dilutes fan voting.  Having a team actively encourage ballot box stuffing makes me sick.  I wish Major League Baseball would step up and protect the integrity of the game.  If teams engage is this sort of activity, ban their players from the All-Star game for a year.  Maybe that would put sportsmanship back into the equation.

Maybe this would be a good time to start discussion contraction again?

THE RESIN BAG

Two of the most dominant pitchers in baseball toed the rubber on Wednesday night.  Stephen Strasburg face another cupcake team when he took the mound  against the Royals (having faced the woeful Pirates and Indians and the mediocre White Sox in his first three games).  Strasburg struck out nine and walked none, but did allow nine hits (all singles) in six innings of work, allowing just one run.  However, Brian Bannister of the Royals combined with the bullpen for a shutout, giving the Roayls a 1-0 win.

Ubaldo Jimenez was in search of his 14th win when he faced the Red Sox.  Jimenez was rocking and rolling early in the game, but ran into trouble in the sixth inning.  A flare down the right field line by Marco Scutaro put the Sox ahead 6-5 and sent Jimenez to the showers (actually, to the bench, where he watched the rest of the game).  It was by far the worst game of the year, statistically.  In spite of that, my friend Lazy Man at Lazy Man and Money came away impressed with Jimenez.  The Rockies took Jimenez off the hook by rallying against Papelbon in the ninth.  Homers by Ian “Stewie” Stewart and Jason “Jason” Giambi sent Colorado fans home happy with an 8-6 win.  The Rockies go for the sweep tonight when they send Jason Hammel to the mound to face off against Daisuke Matsuzaka.

I’m not much of a soccer fan, but I was following the ESPN Gamecast of the USA game against Algeria yesterday.  I had discussed various scenarios with occasional contributor Fulton Christopher, and when England went up 1-0 against Slovenia, we knew that the US was going to need a win to advance.  A surge of pride went through me when the news of Landon Donovan’s late goal splashed across the screen.

Across the pond at Wimbledon, news of Roger Federer’s near defeat at the hands of Allejando Falla in the first round was the buzz on the first day of the tournament  .  Down two sets, Federer rallied to beat the Colombian in five sets.  The tournament’s top seed struggled again in the second round, with Serbian Ilija Bozoljac taking R-Feds to four sets. 

On Wednesday, the big news was the match between American John Isner and Nicolas Mahut of France.  The match actually began on Tuesday.  It was suspended because of darkness and was resumed on Wednesday.  They played the entire day on Wednesday before the match was once again suspended because of darkness.  At the end of the day, they were tied 59-59 in the fifth set.  For those who don’t follow tennis, you typically play to 6.  The match is demolishing many records, and the length is unfathomable to everyone.  Matches simply don’t last this long, ever.

It will be interesting to see how the winner fares in the next round.  Conventional wisdom would be that they’ll be easy prey for an opponent – but only time will tell.  Both players are also playing doubles, and will play their first round doubles matches shortly after their singles match is completely – assuming that it doesn’t continue until the end of time.