6926 Finally, we've reached baseball season (Complete with its triumvirate of opening days) so I'll probably be back here like usual support my Brewers and Cubs. Just a note, you may notice my MLB team is now Milwaukee rather than the Cubs. For me, the Brewers have been a more enjoyable team and one I've been able to follow a lot better than the Cubs the past year or two. As a result, I've put them in the 1A spot ahead of the Cubs' 1B. It may seem silly, but as a huge baseball fan, trying to root for competing teams equally became a grueling endeavor and actually served to lessen my interest in baseball temporarily. Anyways, onto the season as well as other sports items: 1. While I realize that Kosuke Fukudome isn't going to hit .500 for the season, he sure looks comfortable against some very good pitching so far. Considering he had three of the five team hits on Opening Day (Two of which came against a very effective Ben Sheets) as well as having a walk each game (Not a huge accomplishment, but still a nice skill), he looks like he can be a very useful part of this team. I just don't understand why they won't put him at the 2 spot (Since he's not a power hitter, despite the blast against Baggy-Pants Gagnè), put someone like Theriot at leadoff. I know they like the lefty bat in the middle of the order, but it would make so much more sense with Theriot/Fontenot/DeRosa leading off, Fukudome second, then Lee, Soriano, Ramirez or something along those lines. Doesn't that make sense aside from the left-right match up, which is overrated with these guys. Lee and Ramirez for their careers have only hit 10 points better against lefties versus righties, and Soriano is actually six points BETTER against right-handed pitchers. Oh, and while the other two have better power rates against left-handed pitchers, Soriano is better against righties again. 2. On Tuesday, I actually sat down for a while and watched... get this... women's college basketball (Tennessee vs. Texas A&M). The MLB game I really cared about was already done, there wasn't a whole lot on otherwise, and I didn't feel like playing PS3. Plus, I'm always intrigued about the Lady Vols since I say Pat Summitt is one of the top 5 college coaches, mens or womens, and I'm also intrigued about Candace Parker since I've seen all the crazy highlights. I started watching the game a bit before half-time (Realize that I watch games while doing other stuff, so I wasn't paying complete attention) and found out Parker was already out of the game because of an injured shoulder. Once the second half started up and carried on for a bit, Parker was back in the game despite having a dislocated shoulder (Which actually was dislocated twice in the first half) and she proceeded to play and score almost half of Tennessee's points. Now, I will admit that I usually am less than enthused about women's sports in general, but this was an amazing performance of both skill and toughness. I don't care what sport you're playing (Save for hockey and rugby, since they're both played by crazies) coming back from a dislocated shoulder (Not to mention one that had been dislocated twice in a span of 15 minutes) to play is awe-inspiring. I would give credit to a American League southpaw with a dislocated right shoulder for pitching, but someone playing basketball? That's downright impressive. Add that into the fact that Parker's not only a gifted basketball player but also seems to be a wonderful young woman, and you've got yourself one heck of a player and teammate. Well done, Candace Parker, well done! 3. As many of you wouldn't know, it's a tough thing being a soccer fan in America. Watching a sport and realizing that most people either don't care about it or actually just dislike it in the States is a tough thing a lot of the time. I have to say, though, that it is rather funny to listen to NFL fans complain about how soccer's slow when their favorite sport has 40 seconds between each play and commercial breaks every ten minutes. Anyways, I feel like, as an American soccer fan, that I should support our local league. I've always held the same opinion as most people about the MLS, in that it's a third-rate league and is no more than a developmental league for players to go to Europe once in a while. However, with the addition of international players due to the Designated Player Rule, the MLS has started to increase the level of play throughout the league. The Designated Player Rule, or "Beckham Rule" allows team to purchase high-salaried players while remaining under the league salary cap (Which, on a side note, is $2.3 million per team, or $700,000 less than the average salary in Major League Baseball). Not only will this increase the league's overall skill level, but it will allow American players to face tougher competition and allow them to improve their play for international competition. This increase in talent seems to be more apparent already, as far as I can tell. I've been bored in the past watching MLS soccer, but the games I've watched so far have been very fun. I'll admit, it wasn't quite as entertaining as the two US National Team matches I've seen in the past few months, but they were still good. I've decided to make an effort this year to see more MLS games and try to get to know the players a bit more. With the way the games have gone so far, this may be a possibility. true 2008-04-04T19:39:12Z 46812 1 2008-04-04T19:39:12Z