SB Nation User Blog: War

Cain to bullpen?

War — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:56:05 -0000

"The Giants could have a third candidate to close next season: Matt Cain. The team does not want to mess with him in midseason, but some in the organization believe he has the stuff and bulldog attitude to become another Jonathan Papelbon."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/28/SPBER8UJM2.DTL

Please explain to me the logic of taking Cain out of the starting rotation while keeping Zito in said rotation?

Should Barry Zito have a nickname?

War — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 20:39:35 -0000

It struck me that while various Gigantes have been bestowed clever nicknames by the McCoven, there isn't one yet for the "ace" of our crack pitching staff. If Todd Linden had a nickname, shouldn't Zito?

Looking at Natto's artistic expression of Zito's qualities, I noted that the title of the piece was "Zitowned." I like that term a lot, but I don't know about using a verb as a nickname. Of course, it might be better than the nickname that first came to mind: "A-$133-Million-Contract-Should-Get-You-More-Than-A-Bag-Of-Poop."

Of course, if Tim Lincecum is going to be nicknamed "The Franchise," then perhaps as counterpoint, Zito's nickname should be "The Mistake." Works for me anyway.

P.S. If it seems like I bear some antipathy towards Mr. Zito... you're not wrong. The day he signed his contract, I started getting calls from Dodgers friends and A's friends all LAUGHING AT ME over the stupidity of the Giants. Plus, I'm no doubt bitter by the fact that all the girls in the Marina would still rather go home with him than with me, merely because he's better looking than me and also sleeps on a very large pile of money.

Norv Turner interviewing with Cowboys?

War — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:23:13 -0000

EDITOR'S NOTE Thanks to War for posting the article in a diary. Thought it was most definitely worth bringing to the front.

War's take: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2742496

Ugh. Not that I assumed Turner would be an OC for the rest of his life, but I was hoping he would stick around for a few years to develop Alex Smith. If Turner leaves, I expect a major regression from Smith next year.

Fooch's Take: Indeed, the Dallas Cowboys have been granted permission to interview with our fine offensive coordinator Norvell Turner. However, this story down in Big D is not so simple. Jason Garrett was hired by the Cowboys, initially for no specific position, although it was expected to be offensive coordinator. Apparently the Dolphins set a deadline for the Cowboys to decide if he'd be hired as offensive coordinator or not. Due to that, Garrett was officially named the OC.

HOWEVER, it does not end there. The Cowboys have permission to interview Turner and Saints DC Gary Gibbs and are interested in talking to San Diego DC Wade Phillips. Garrett is the guy Jones wants to eventually be head coach, but if he's not satisfied with the above interviews, Garrett could be installed as head coach ahead of schedule.

My own opinion on the situation is that if Garrett will be named head coach in the next year or two, why not do it now? It'd be one thing if Parcells had not retired and Garrett was groomed to be his successor (like Wannstedt and Jimmy Johnson in Miami, or Avery Johnson and Don Nelson for the NBA's Mavericks). However, this is a situation where the proverbial student is being brought in BEFORE the proverbial teacher. Everyone involved knows the head coach is a mere stop gap for a year or two. How could that coach possibly command respect, which brings us back to Norvell. He's been a relative failure as a head coach, while an all-time success as an offensive coordinator (see Aikman, Troy and maybe Smith, Alex one day). Unless he was just doing this to do a favor to Jerry Jones it really seems like a bad idea for him to take the Cowboys job. Obviously, it's his career and he can do as he wishes, but hopefully he'll realize the phenomenal situation he's in (a playoff team in the next year or two and NO T.O.), come to his senses and stay on with Mike Nolan.

Need Giants-Mets tickets?

War — Tue, 24 May 2005 15:04:55 -0000

After moving out here to Manhattan, I was pretty damn excited to get tickets to see the Gigantes play the Metropolitans. Until I found out that I can't go after all. Oh well.

So, I got two tickets that I'll happily sell at a discount to other Giants fans if you live in the NYC area. It's the Saturday, June 4 game, the tickets are Section 7, Row D, Seats 11-12. They say "Mezzanine Reserved" -- I've never been to Shea so I have no idea what any of this means. Just e-mail me if you're interested. Thanks.