confidentialmisanthropy

After the Wrigley fallout, my depression launched me back into my usual hermit-like gaming life. Seriously. Not five minutes after Game 7, I was knee deep in Final Fantasy Tactics since I'd just finished FFTA and needed something to whet my strategy thirst. Then I went into a hardcore Final Fantasy binge. I mean bad. Basically I ended up re-starting the one that's eluded me since 1999, FFVIII. I never really got into it back then. I used to watch Psycho play it but I didn't like how different it was. I think maybe my tastes have aged to the point where I could appreciate what Square was trying to do back then. At that same time I thought it was cheesy and very Aaron Spelling. How wrong I was. Though the more I delve into the game, the more I realize why it polarized the FF community like it did.

Sort of in the spirit of 8-Bit Theatre, I started the original FF also. I went with a Black Mage, a Fighter, White Mage, & Red Mage. My GL alter-ego "BT" (short for BlackThought) is the Black Mage. My fighter is P-Mo, named after my man Phil. I made Mo-Pete the Red Mage because they're badass and Mo's too tall to be anything else. "J"'s the white mage. Though I think in reality she'd suck as one but it's just funny thinking of her beating up monsters with a hammer.

I'm trying to find an explanation for what happened in Wrigley Field this week. Here in Washington, half a nation away, I felt the disappointment.

I don't blame the fan. I don't buy into all the superstitous "goat" shit. It's not even the fact that my favorite team in any professional sport lost. It's the way they lost.

I was so depressed about the whole thing, I didn't get any sleep last night. I just sat there wishing we would've shut Josh Beckett the fuck up. Wishing we would've let Bartman off the hook. Wishing I could've held my head high, for a change.

I wasn't old enough in '84, but I've grown up watching this team and I've never thought loving a team could be so heartbreaking.

I came in to work today, and I was being very sportsmanlike about the ribbing. J made it her mission to cheer me up and I was so rude to her. She gave me a Cubs shot glass that in a perfect world I'd 've been drinking a victory shot out of, but reality bites.

As for the blame... It falls squarely on the team for me. Dusty included... I love those guys to death but Prior & Wood are two of the best pitchers in the league and they were walking guys left and right... They dug their own graves and picked the worst time and the worst stage to not be able to dig themselves out of it... Dusty made some questionable coaching desicions the entire series IMO and even though they were up 3-1, it all caught up to 'em. It's like a sick joke, it makes me want to puke...

It'll take me 'til Spring to get over this...

Then we'll do it all again ...


People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.
-- Rogers Hornsby

That about sums it up for me...

I hate to sound like a lunatic Cub fan, but I feel like they've got a good team and come next year, they'll make another run. I don't know if you can quite call a team losers, that have had the odds stacked against them all year, that make it to the NLCS and come within one game of the WS.

Any other day, an Aramis Ramirez six RBI day that puts the Cubs within one game of a berth in the World friggin' Series would be my headline, but the Yanks and BoSox were spillin' blood.

Associated Press
BOSTON -- Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez threw 72-year-old Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer to the ground during a bench-clearing melee that interrupted Game 3 of the AL championship series Saturday.

In a bizarre scene that added even more intensity to baseball's most bitter rivalry, the fight began after Martinez threw behind Karim Garcia's head in the top of the fourth inning.

Martinez' bean ball came after Hideki Matsui's RBI double broke a 2-2 tie.

The umpire ruled that the ball hit Garcia in the back and awarded him first base. He then issued a warning to both dugouts about throwing inside.

"There's no question in my mind that Pedro hit him on purpose,'' Yankees' manager Joe Torre said in a postgame interview. "I didn't care for that."

Once on first, Garcia ran for second on an Alfonso Soriano at bat, sliding hard past second and knocking down second baseman Todd Walker. The two began shoving each other, and both teams emerged from their dugouts, yelling. Zimmer and Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, Clemens appeared to be particularly vocal.

Two umpires pulled Clemens aside as he went to the mound for the bottom of the inning.

Roger Clemens then threw up and in to Manny Ramirez, and the Boston slugger shouted at the pitcher while raising his bat, though Yankee manager Joe Torre insisted later that the pitch was not meant to brush Ramirez back.

Both benches cleared again, and Zimmer headed for Martinez and lunged at him. Martinez sidestepped, grabbed Zimmer by the head with both hands and tossed him to the ground. Zimmer landed face down and rolled over on his back.

"We've upgraded from a battle to a war," Boston manager Grady Little said.

The game was delayed for 10 minutes, but nobody was ejected.

After his run-in with Martinez, Zimmer remained on the ground and Yankees trainer Gene Monahan treated him for what appeared to be a cut on his head.

Sitting in the dugout, Zimmer had a small bandage on his nose. Later, he was smiling and laughing.

"I was more surprised to see Zim get across the field that fast," Jason Giambi said later. "You don't spend as many years as he has in the game without getting involved."

After play resumed, Ramirez struck out on the next Clemens' pitch.

Zimmer, who has been in professional baseball for 54 years, was the Red Sox manager in 1978 when they lost to the Yankees in a one-game playoff for the AL East title, the game that featured Bucky Dent's famous home run.

Zimmer has a plate in his head, the result of a 1953 beaning.

To keep the crowd calm after the "scrum," as Joe Torre described it, the baseball commissioner's office and the Red Sox immediately cut off beer sales in the ballpark.

But the fighting wasn't over.

There was a skirmish in the Yankees' bullpen in the middle of the ninth inning, one that appeared to involve a member of the Boston grounds crew. Garcia, New York's right fielder, cut his hand and was replaced by Juan Rivera.

After the game Zimmer was taken away on a stretcher, placed in an ambulance and taken to the hospital for examination. He came away with only a cut on the bridge of his nose.

Zimmer had nothing to say afterward -- except to note with satisfaction that, "We won the game."

Martinez told ESPN Radio after the game that he is "completely" shocked by what happened on the field Saturday. He said Zimmer tried to hit him, so he tried to push him away. Martinez emphasized that he would never hit Zimmer.

LMAO...

Tim Wakefield's knuckler dazzled. Chicago's bats sizzled. Consquently, the Red Sox frustrated the Yankees 5-2 in Game 1 of the ALCS on Wednesday, while the Cubs routed the Marlins 12-3 to even the NLCS at one game apiece.

ESPN

I'll say this now. The Marlins are for real. Their resilliance, quite frankly, scares me.

Game 1 of the NLCS was unreal. I lost my voice yelling. That Sosa homer was... unforgettable. But in the end, the Fish ended up with a W, thanks to a collective effort of some of the hungriest players I've ever seen. Gonzalez. Pudge. Lowell. Pierre.

Funny. It likely could've been averted had Dusty not went with Guthrie to avoid Harris, of all people. Not to take anything away from the Marlins. What a game.

Prior takes the mound today. Hopefully he'll even the score. This game's truly must-win.

In other news: Look what I can do when I get off my ass.

So we're going back to Atlanta knotted up. Mark pitched a two-hitter against Greg Maddux to win Game 3, but Clement couldn't match the magic of his division clincher to close it out and punch the ticket to the NLCS. So I guess the Braves have their home field advantage back... though I'm not sure the ever had it in the first place.

I've really bee trying hard to shirk my procrastination lately. I've got mad reviews to do for GL. PN .0.3; Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles; FF Tactics Advance... Yeah, my free time has been pretty much non-existant. And this "stand down" power-up duty section crap is really not all it's cracked up to be.

Frosty returned yesterday. He bestowed upon me a leather bound copy of The Complete Frank Miller Batman Collection proving once again that he is in fact, the man.

So much for being impersonal... "J" dug the gift certificate:

Matt,
Thank you soooooo much for the gift......Why do you do that?......now I feel bad, I am just lucky I have such a good friend and I really appreciate it.
You didn't have to do it......Brat........It's sad cuz you know me too well....I would not even know where to begin looking for you and it probably took you all of two minutes for that huh?......
Thank you again soooooooo very much Matt, you are one in a million......and I love ya.....
Jen

.:shrugs shoulders:.

EAT SHIT JAVY LOPEZ!
Kerry Wood did it all for the Cubs on Tuesday night against the Braves. Not only did he strike out 11 over 7 1/3, Wood hit a two-run double in the sixth that broke a 1-1 tie and sent the Cubs on their way to a 1-0 series lead.