John’s Blog - Coast To Coast

And no, I’m not going - that would take a plane ride cross country to Patriot-land and then a trip to Connecticut. The Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride tour begins at tonight at the Mohegan Sun arena in Uncastle, Connecticut. Carrie and Keith will be playing both tonight and tomorrow night beginning at 7:30 pm. It should be an amazing show as they are arguably Country music’s two biggest stars at the moment. I have friends going to both shows, and if I’m lucky I might get to use a picture or two of theirs in my blogs in the coming days!!!.

As for me, I have to wait until March 13, when the tour hits Los Angeles and the Honda Center (formerly the Anaheim Pond).

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Over the past four years or so, baseball’s best pitcher has resided in the American league - the city of Minnesota to be specific. Pending a physical and a contract extension, the Minnesota Twins have agreed to trade Johan Santana to the New York Mets for minor leagues pitchers Philip Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey along with outfielder Carlos Gomez. Humber is a top prospect, but the others are still developing. If you’re a Mets fan, you have to be happy with this trade as it effectively amounts to getting Santana for next to nothing.

As for the fans in Minnesota, well I don’t think any of them can be too happy at the moment. They signed Justin Morneau to an $80 million, six year deal after posting an abysmally bad three home runs, 26 RBI’s and a .237 batting average in his final 63 games. Is he injured? Was he pressing? Are the bone spurs in his elbow acting up again? If healthy, he could produce a 40 home run season easily, but if not, this could turn out to be a HUGE mistake for the Twins. They also gave outfielder Michael Cuddyer a three year, $24 million contract after posting 16 home runs, 81 RBI’s and a .276 batting average last year. After his career year in 2006 (24 homers, 109 RBI’s, .284 BA), maybe he was worthy of this kind of money, but after last year’s numbers? No. As any fantasy leaguer will tell you, those 2007 stats put up by Cuddyer are very average. The Twins would have been a lot wiser in spending their money to either resign Torii Hunter or give Santana a contract extension.

Just how good has Santana been the past four years? In 134 games started, he’s got a 70-32 record (including 15-13 last year when he got very little run support). His other numbers: a 2.89 ERA a 0.9996 WHIP and 983 strikeouts in 912 1/3 innings (9.7 per 9 innings). Simply put, these numbers are FAR and AWAY the best in baseball over that time. Now that he’s moving to the National League, where there is no DH, guess what? The numbers are going to get BETTER! If you have him in a keeper league like I do, consider yourself very blessed. When it comes to draft day in your fantasy leagues, you better bump him up about $3 in auction leagues and 2-3 spots in your snake draft.

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Believe it or not, Major League Baseball’s regular season is less than two months from beginning. Sadly, many in the sports media (including many columnists and writers whom I respect) have decided that everything in the Mitchell Report is gospel and that all of the players must be cheats. We’ve already seen several cases where the information in the report was false - the Roger Clemens article and subsequent retraction by the Los Angeles Times and Jack Cust being singled out in the report as a user and saying he’s never used for example.

Also, when you start seeing ridiculous stuff in forums questioning whether closer J.J. Putz of the Seattle Mariners started using PED’s after the 2005 season, when the common sense reality of his improvement from 2005 to 2006 was the addition of two pitches - a two-seam fastball and a curveball to an already blazing fastball and splitter. Historically, when a pitcher adds new pitches to his arsenal, they get BETTER! Duh!

While on the topic of the Mitchell Report, I’m all but convinced now that Roger Clemens is innocent and that Brian McNamee is going to spend A LOT of time in prison. Some have questioned how Clemens’ numbers have remained pretty good as he’s gotten older and how it’s impossible for a guy to pitch effectively into his 40’s. Do any of you remember a pitcher named Nolan Ryan? “The Express” had an amazing career, but as anyone can see when looking at his career numbers, his stats started to decline in his late 30’s. That said, they were still good as Ryan took very good care of himself and put together a legendary workout regimen. Ryan then added a split-fingered fastball to his repetoire and suddenly he experienced a rebirth in his 40’s. He led the National League with a 2.70 ERA and 276 strikeouts at age 40 in 1987. He posted a 301 strikeout season at the age of 42 (his first 300 K season in 12 years) in 1989, and threw his seventh career no-hitter at age 44 in 1991 - a season where his ERA was only 2.91. He finally retired in 1993 at the age of 46 after posting a remarkable 5,714 strikeouts.

“The Rocket” is also a power pitcher, and has always had a workout regimen almost as legendary as that of Ryan’s. Power pitchers take longer to decline for a very common-sense reason - their 95-100 MPH fastball at age 30 is still usually in the 90-95 MPH range at age 40, which usually is good enough to get hitters out a good percentage of the time. Ryan threw his fastball over 100 MPH at one time. When he retired in 1993, he was still capable of throwing the ball 95 MPH! Why is Randy Johnson still effective today at age 43? His once near 100 MPH fastball is still in the mid-90’s and he still has a nasty curveball. The same can be said for Clemens. He doesn’t throw as hard as he used to, but his fastball is still topping out in the 90’s and he has a large arsenal of pitches. Most pitchers BEGIN with a fastball that will top out in the low 90’s if they are lucky. When they get to be in their late 30’s, their fastballs are typically running up to the plate in the 80’s… That usually makes them very hittable and unless they have pinpoint control like Greg Maddux, it also means they rarely pitch into their 40’s. Roger Clemens is simply the latest in a long line of power pitchers who has been able to pitch well into his 40’s. Innocent until proven guilty. This is still how things work in this country. I wish people in the sports media would attempt to understand this concept.

For more on this topic, please check out this GREAT article by Gary Armida on the www.fullcountpitch.com site.

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Is it going to be Tom Brady and his New England Patriots completing their perfect season in style, or will Eli Manning and the New York Giants win in an upset of historic proportions? Please vote in my poll on my main blog (www.johnacole.blogspot.com) and feel free to leave me your thoughts and comments about the big game. It’s only SIX days away!

For a three hole stretch on Sunday, Tiger Woods actually did look “beatable” as Rory Sabbatini would like to say. After getting to 21-under par and flirting with the tournament record, Tiger uncharacteristically bogeyed three consecutive holes (14 thru 16). But alas, the lead was still seven strokes after his rare misstep. A birdie on 18 sealed the amazing week for Tiger. His 19-under par total of 269 was eight strokes better than Ryudi Imada who closed with a 5-under par 67 to tie for the low round of the day. Sabbatini matched Imada’s score to tie for third with Stewart Cink at 9-under par. Phil Mickelson battled a respiratory infection all weekend to finish at 6-under par and tied for sixth. 48-year-old Fred Couples closed with an even par 72 to finish at 5-under and tied for 8th. For “Boom Boom” this week marked a remarkable comeback. Back injuries plaged him all year as he only played three events in 2007. It was his first top 10 finish since the 2006 Masters where he finished third to Mickelson.

There were several highlights to Tiger’s final round. A remarkable pitch from behind the green to save a par on the 9th hole - where mere mortals would have been happy to get it to within 15 feet, he stuck it to within a foot and a half. On 11, Tiger was about 65 feet away from the hole with a long curling putt for birdie. From that distance, all you’re trying to do is get it close. Well, Tiger read the putt perfectly and as you can probably guess, the ball somehow found the middle of the cup after rolling for nearly 10 seconds. Check out the shot of the day, if you haven’t seen it yet. For Tiger it was his fourth straight win of the Buick and his 62nd career win to tie the great Arnold Palmer for fourth on the PGA’s all-time list.

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For a brief moment of yesterday’s Buick Invitational, Phil Mickelson made a charge to get within five strokes of Tiger Woods. “Lefty” shot a 6-under par 30 on the back nine at Torrey Pines to get to 7-under par for the tournament. He struggled on his final nine though, shooting a 2-over 38 for a 4-under par 68 total. At five under par, Phil now finds himself 13 strokes back of Tiger. The world’s #1 player shot a bogey-free 6-under par 66 to get to 18-under par, and an amazing eight strokes ahead of Stewart Cink and the rest of the field. Tiger’s 62nd career win (to tie Arnold Palmer for 4th on the all-time list) is almost a foregone conclusion, the only question is the weather. There’s a 90% chance of rain for the San Diego area today. So, round four may or may not be finishing today. A rare Monday finish may be in the cards. Weather permitting, live coverage of the final round starts on your local CBS affiliate at 3PM ET/12 noon PT.

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All I can say is WOW! That man needs to stay un-retired! If you were somehow lucky enough to secure tickets to one of Garth’s five shows in two days here at the Staples center here in Los Angeles, consider yourself VERY blessed!

As you can tell, I just got back from seeing the incredible Garth Brooks perform. Everyone in attendance had a great time as Garth performed for nearly two hours before a packed house. He opened with his hit “The Fever” and closed with his classic, “The Dance.” In between, there were all kinds of highlights including his first ever hit “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)”, “Friends In Low Places,” “Unanswered Prayers,” “The Thunder Rolls,” “Shameless,” his latest hit “More Than A Memory” and a special guest performer named Trisha… as in Trisha Yearwood! They sang together on “Runaway Joe.” Garth then took a five minute breather to let his wife sing one on her own. Another great moment during the show came when Garth gave one of guitars away to a fan named Robin. He even signed it for her!

One of the best parts of the show was near the end when Garth paid tribute with a montage of songs to those who laid the foundation for him including the late Keith Whitley.

The concerts were put together by Garth to help out the victims of this past year’s fires which ravaged through southern California. A great man, a great cause, and needless to say, a GREAT show!!! One that certainly I will not forget anytime soon!

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The year may now read 2008, but for Tiger Woods, that number hardly seems to matter as he continued this year right where he left off from in 2007 - in command of a tournament at the midway point.  Tiger shot a 7-under par 65 to move to 12-under par and four strokes ahead of Kevin Streelman, a third alternate who wasn’t even expecting to tee it up this weekend at Torrey Pines.  Stewart Cink lies another stroke back at 7-under.  Boo Weekley tied for the second best round of the day with a 6-under par 66, and is amongst a group six strokes behind Tiger.  Fred Couples turned in a surprising 3-under 69, and is tied for 9th at 4-under par.  Amongst the other notables, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk both sit at 3-under par, while Phil Mickelson is at 1-under par after a 73.  Last week’s winner, K.J. Choi was amongst those to miss the even par cut line, finishing at 5-over par after a 77 today.

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Thankfully, neither Phil Mickelson nor Tiger Woods played either of the past two weeks when I was not watching the Golf Channel. This week marks what most would call the official start of the season as both Phil and Tiger are playing at this weekend’s Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, CA (not far from San Diego). Woods got off to a good start, shooting a 5-under par score of 67 to finish the day tied for third, two strokes behind first round leader Troy Matteson. Mickelson wasn’t too bad himself, shooting a 2-under par 70 to finish the day tied for 21st. Not bad for a guy fighting a respiratory infection. You can watch three hours of live coverage of the remainder of the second round starting at 3PM ET/12 PM PT today on the Golf Channel, and over the weekend on CBS.

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When you think of the ideal “All-American Girl,” most people presumably would still think of Miss America. Kind of coincidentally, Carrie Underwood has a song entitled “All-American Girl” rocketing up the Country charts at the moment - FYI, it’s at #12 with a bullet as they say in the music biz. Even though the Miss America pageant is no longer held on network television, it’s still a very prestigious event, and in my estimation still defines what the perfect “All-American Girl” is all about.

Growing up, I watched the pageant a lot, but rarely did the girl who I was rooting for win. It was kind of a moral victory for me if the girl I was rooting for made the top 10. So, as time went on, I watched less often. Then, a little over a year ago - actually it was December 26, 2006, I happened upon the CMT website while looking for some news about the aforementioned Underwood… Well, I saw that CMT also happened to be televising the Miss America pageant last year (for the second year in a row) and they had a section spotlighting all 52 contestants. Pretty much immediately, a beautiful young woman representing the District of Columbia kind of caught my eye. I read her bio and saw like me that she enjoyed Rascal Flatts and Keith Urban music-wise and that she also was a huge baseball fan! I then read the Q&A and was struck by her intelligence. Her beautiful photos taken pretty much all over the U.S. and even destinations like Italy showed she really loved to travel. The video was really cute too…I can’t ever see her being “left out” though. After that, I knew I had found the girl I wanted to root for in the 2007 Miss America Pageant in Kate Michael.

So, for the first time in a very long time, I watched the Miss America pageant in anticipation. The first thirty minutes of the show would be very important as that’s when they would narrow it to ten contestants. As they called the last of the 10 finalists and Kate wasn’t chosen, I was a little upset actually. I was so sure she would be there! That said, there were a few contestants that I did like that made the finals - Jacquelynne Fontaine (Miss California), Kristen Eddings (Miss Washington), Amanda Kozak (Miss Georgia), and the eventual winner, Lauren Nelson (Miss Oklahoma).

Although I thought Lauren was a great choice as a winner (and she’s done a GREAT job in her year) I wondered what would become of Miss DC… I was on Wikipedia one morning a week or so after the pageant and discovered that only nine of the 52 delegates had pages there and Kate wasn’t one of them. So, without ever making a Wikipedia page before, I set about to make my first one. It was soon before long that my mission was accomplished. Kate Michael had her own Wikipedia page! And it wasn’t long before I was in touch with Kate and became friends with her. She turned out to be just as warm, friendly and nice as I thought she would be. These days, Kate is working for the Greater Washington Sports Alliance and also is one of the hosts of Just Another Sports Show. Yes, she definitely keeps busy as her K Street Kate blog will attest to!

Since I didn’t get to see the Miss America pageant in person last year, I figured that I would do the next best thing this past July and attend the 2007 Miss D.C. pageant. Two weeks earlier, I flew out to D.C. for the big 4-0… I tracked Tiger Woods at Congressional on my birthday and also happened to run into Kate’s boyfriend Bill Dean on the 7th hole… that was sooooo random! I met up with Kate, Bill, and a bunch of Miss D.C. and Teen Miss D.C. hopefuls for Miss D.C. Day at the Nationals the next afternoon at a Nationals game vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. At the game, I also met a couple of former Miss D.C.’s in Teri Galvez and Tricia Morrin-Lloyd. Tricia and I got to talking about the upcoming pageant, and I ended up working with her online to help promote it. That turned out to be A LOT of fun!

As for the 2007 Miss DC pageant itself, I had a GREAT time! I got to see Kate perform, and also a bunch of other talented young women, including eventual winner, Shayna Rudd. I also got to meet Kate’s parents and 1997 Miss D.C. Sonya Gavankar-McKay (and yes Sonya, I’ve been checking out your blog too!) I was struck by just how well-run the pageant was, and also how nice everyone was. I was definitely proud to have an affiliation with the Miss America organization and particularly the D.C. chapter of it!

This week marks the moment that Shayna has been targeting ever since winning the Miss D.C. pageant six months ago. The Miss America pageant preliminaries are currently under way, and in just two more days, she and the other 51 contestants will stake their claim on the crown. Who will be this year’s “All-American Girl?” Unless you’re going to the pageant (I have a Garth Brooks date earlier that day, so there is no way for me to go), you’ll have to watch it on TLC from 8-10 P.M. ET this Saturday night. Other than Shayna, I still haven’t picked out any personal favorites for this year’s pageant yet… maybe by tonight I’ll have some more. So for now, I’ll just wish Shayna the best of luck!

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