The Bhoys sure could use you right about now.

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Being the soccer fan that I am, and looking forward to the rare occasion of being able to see one of the teams I root for (Celtic) on TV (Gol TV, Wednesday, Nov 30th, 12pm central time), I got to thinking about sports teams nicknames. This Europa League clash I am looking forward to features the Bhoys (Celtic) vs The Mattress Makers (Atletico Madrid). The world of soccer has introduced me to all manner of fascinating nicknames, and often teams have multiple unofficial nicknames. A team in the English Premier League I follow is West Bromwich Albion. They can be called The Throstels, though I have never heard them called that. They are usually referred to as The Baggies (or The Boing-Boing Baggies. Boing-Boing because they have a propensity for being promoted to the Premier League only to be quickly relegated to the league below, then soon back up to the Premier League, then down again).

Here are a few of the soccer team nicknames I am familiar with: The Toffees, The Latics, The Little Zebras, The Potters, The Yellow Submarine, The Hammers, The Canaries. If you would like a list (and who wouldn't) here's one of soccer team nicknames in the U.K. Here's another with soccer teams from around the world.

Now while I have no scientific evidence of this it has long been my understanding that this particular part of the midwest (Illinois, Indiana and Wisconson) is a rich source of odd high school team nicknames. I still can recall that as a youth my father would bemoan the time that his Evanston Wildkits went downstate (for basketball I believe) certain of victory when they heard they would be facing the Cobden Appleknockers only to be vanquished. Other Illinois High School nicknames: The Fisher Bunnies, The Freeport Pretzels, The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes, and The Hoopeston Cornjerkers.

So tell me some other team nicknames. Which ones do you like? Which ones do you think are terrible? If you were to be able to nickname a team, what would you choose?

Saturday seemed like a great day to escape the brutally oppressive heat of central Illinois by traveling to....central Indiana. Okay, so I knew escaping the heat was not going to happen and it turned out it was even slightly more ruthlessly savage in Indianapolis than it was at home, but I couldn't pass up a chance to see my favorite team's AAA team in action.

I've been to at least 5 or 6 games at Victory Field and cannot recommend it highly enough. The only other minor league stadium I've been to is Louisville Slugger Field, which is also awesome. Ticket prices for the best available seats are $14 at Indy and only $11 at Louisville but it seems that most (if not all) of the lower level seats from dugout to dugout at Louisville are reserved for season ticket holders whereas at Indy I have usually gotten seats in the first 5 rows anywhere in the stadium I want. (I like the first base side next to the visitor's dugout, though those seats were sold out already this time. That was fine because: a) no matter where your seats are you can end up moving at some point anywhere you desire, and b) on such soul searingly hot days as Saturday the sun remains scorching down the right field line until close to sunset.)

Apparently ChicagoPete was at the game as well and he had a recap including some information about the food and beverages. I don't eat so I can't comment on the food but I did frequent the Guinness Pub Stand. (Menu pictured by Pete in the comments of his recap). Yes, the prices may have been a little high but the problem (for me) is that the only domestic draft, a reasonable $6.25 for 24 oz, is Coors Light. I don't know about you but even if it is free I'm not drinking Coors anything, so I paid the premium and stuck with Smithwick's all night.

Join me after the jump for some thoughts, pictures, and to hear about my fateful meeting with Rowdie.

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Alright, I've seen it enough times now. I defy anyone to tell me that Joe West was not either being a total bastard or that he has something against Mark Buehrle, Ozzie Guillen or the White Sox. (My assumption is that he was just being a bastard). The MLB network had multiple views of the two plays in question and they (two of whom are former major league left handed pitchers) all agreed that there was no way either call should have been a balk.

I understand the fine line of a balk call with a left handed pitcher, but Mark Buehrle has been in the league for ten years and he has been doing the same thing all that time and has been called for five balks in the last 9 years.

Yes, you can argue whether Buehrle deserved to be tossed for his glove "dropping", (I obviously am going to disagree with that decision), but I wonder what you might think of Joe West.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

When Carlos Quentin first came over to the White Sox all I really knew about him was that he was a top prospect, he had been injured a few times, he had a high on base percentage in the minors and he got hit by pitches a lot. (Although I didn't realize just how much impact all those HBPs had on his OBP**) I assumed he was a patient hitter. I was wrong.

Sometime early last season I, among other people, noticed that it seemed Q had a penchant  for swinging at the first pitch. As the season progressed, other than making the occasional comment about it, I did not attempt to verify this observation. Sometime just before his return from the disabled list (on July 20th) I decided I would look into it.

I kept track of Q's plate appearances from July 20th through the end of the season. With some additional research on baseball-reference.com not only did I confirm that observation to be true, I ran across a few other numbers I found interesting which I will present after the jump...

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You know who I don't like? Nick Swisher, that's who. Some of the more observant regulars around here may have even noticed that I have been known to make some disparaging comments about him from time to time, some of which can be found (warning: if you are offended by coarse language you will not want to be clicking any of these links) here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here. There are more, but I think you get the idea.

Now I know that I'm not the only one who dislikes Swisher, but what I'm interested in finding out here are which other players some of you don't like. If you have a reason for your malice feel free to share. Perhaps you saw a player blow off a kid's autograph request. Perhaps you have an irrational hatred of a player who was signed as a utility player by your favorite team and when he was placed in center field it became painfully obvious that he did not belong there. Perhaps you just don't like the cut of a players' jib. Perhaps a player said something vile about your daughter.

Here are just a few of the players I don't care for to get things started.

 Brett Myers --- Wife beater, jackass.

Joba Chamberlain --- Hat, face, too screamy, on the Yankees.

Carlos Gomez --- Too prancy, always drawing for the vapors, plays inordinately well against the Sox.

Mike Sweeney --- Too jesus-y, always killed the White Sox. The only thing he did that I enjoyed was when he attacked.......

Jeff Weaver --- Does not have the "good face", seems like a real tool. (See him get body slammed by Sweeney here.)

Geovany Soto --- I suppose I could abide the frosted hair but the waxed eyebrows send me right over the edge. I find his minor league home run totals (in addition to his rookie season) extra suspicious.  Also, being on the Cubs certainly doesn't help.

Matt Holliday --- The shape of his jaw/skull and body give me the creeps.

Well, there you have it. Oh, there are plenty more players, past and present, that I could list, from Steve Garvey* to Manny Ramirez to Kenny Rogers to Dave Kingman.** I better not try to list them all though. I wouldn't want to leave anyone out.

So, who gets on your very last nerve? Who do you find yourself rooting against? Who do you think should pound sand? Bring it on. And FNS.

* Link for Garvey is a long Sports Illustrated article

** Link for Kingman is a Joe Posnanski article.

Last Friday *Mark Gonzales noted* that Ken "The Hawk" Harrelson would not be announcing the game in order to attend to a family matter. My question is do you believe this explanation or do you think he was told to grab some bench due to his excessive whining about the umpires? Also, whether you think he was suspended or not, have you noticed a distinct change in his demeanor since then or am I just crazy?

We've all heard the axiom about how when you go to a baseball game you're going to see something you've never seen before. When I think of this saying, 3 games I've attended immediately pop into my mind.

        1.    This game actually had 2 occurrences of note, one being of the somewhat rare variety and the other a once in a lifetime kind of deal. The game ended in a tie, which I didn't even remember until I looked up the box score. It's the only tie game I've ever been to, but the memorable part was that pete rose got his 4,191st hit in this game.(equaling ty cobb for the all time hit record, duh). Rose got his 4,190th in the first inning, and he tied the record in the fifth. sometime just after that there was a long (as i remember it) rain delay. I decided to leave because it was getting dark and i figured they wouldn't be able to resume the game. (for all you kids out there, wrigley field had no lights at the time). Well, they did continue that game (through 9 innings) and rose did bat one more time, but the combination of lee smith and virtually no daylight resulted in a strikeout for old Charlie Hustle.

        2.    This game was not memorable because of Horacio Ramirez's excellent outing.( He pitched 7 2/3 innings and had only given up one run, but in the eighth, with a man on and pujols coming up, bobby cox brought in john smoltz. The result was very similar to the result when pujols faced brad lidge in the 2005 playoffs, an absolute rocket to the very, very deep left field bleachers.) the real rarity, though, was the unassisted triple play turned by rafael furcal. It happened (obviously) really fast, and I still remember the moments of silence afterward as everyone realized what had just happened, followed by a loud ovation by the always polite st. louis fans.

        3.    This game, of course, is my all time favorite. I reckon some of you were also in attendance. The only disappointment was that buehrle didn't get the perfect game, but if he hadn't walked sosa I wouldn't have been able to laugh when he picked him off of first.

I think there may have been somewhat similar posts in the past of people recalling memorable games that they have been to, but I don't recall any specifically on the topic of "seeing something you've never seen before", so if anyone's got some stories(one last time here; from games you have been to), let's hear ‘em.

(and in case you didn't know, the title of this post is a nod to the late, great david foster wallace)

i've got two extra tickets located in section 115 row 29 for tonight's game, buehrle versus washburn. i live ~2 hours away and should get to the park somewhere between 5:30 and 6:30pm. anyone interested?

is this post lardy enough yet?

last time i had two extra tickets was april 18, 2007. that was a really, really, really, really good game. if i recall correctly, my man buehrle pitched a no hitter.