Final Farewell To The Kid
Unfortunately we weren't able to actually set a record for our Griffey Day last month, but we did get some great pics uploaded and have selected a winner straight from Seattle.
Josh C sent in this gem of him at the Mariner's home park Safeco Field, rocking a backwards hat with his favorite beer-man (er, woman) in the stands - which we've deemed the best submission, meaning he's scored himself a free So Long Kid t-shirt from our Fan-Fits collection. And as a secondary bonus, he apparently ran into Griffey himself at an airshow near Seattle just a couple of weeks ago - although we can't take any credit for that serendipitous meet-up.
We also got some love from the Backporch folks at Fanhouse, who wrote a little piece hyping the day and helping to spread the Project Franchise gospel.
Although we are sad to see the end of the Griffey era, and it makes us feel really old, we do have a bunch of other fun fan-friendly promos and giveaways coming up so stay tuned - and if you have any ideas for stuff we should be doing to get fans more involved, just let us know.
Tom Coughlin Goes Extra Mile For Cheap Gas
After seeing our post on How Jerry Buss Rolls a few weeks ago, our friends at Sportsfat passed along a link to their post about seeing the NY Giants coach opting for the cheapo gas on his way to work.
Since Project Franchise is only planning on owning a minor league team, we're expecting to be more like Coughlin - also we'd much rather be like Buss!
Strasmas Cancelled - Stephen Strasburg to undergo Tommy John surgery
The 2010 MLB season has been a true classic. No-hitters, perfect games, 22-inning marathon games, and a more exciting rookie class than the game has seen in years. That rookie class is headlined by Stephen Strasburg, the first overall pick from the 2009 draft whose debut in June was one of the most memorable moments of the year.
Last week, the Washington Nationals superstar left his start mid-way through after experienced clear discomfort after throwing a pitch. As he shook off his elbow, a lot of us could tell what was coming.
Today, it was announced that Stephen Strasburg will require the dreaded Tommy John surgery, to essentially replace a ligament in his pitching elbow. The recovery process for Tommy John is generally at least 12-months, though power pitchers like Strasburg often take longer to return to form.
While we all will remain optimistic that Strasburg is able to make a full recovery and return better than ever, from a fan's perspective, this is a huge blow to baseball in general. Strasburg on the mound was an event. His pitching appearances in cities around baseball drew big-time crowds. In just a few months, he has become one of the game's biggest superstars, and missing him likely for all of the the 2011 season is a true shame.
Nationals fans, of course, will take the blow the hardest. Above and beyond missing their star for the season, they'll lose a year of service time on Strasburg. That means one less year of enjoyment before he is likely to leave town for brighter pastures, and let's be honest, probably pinstripes.
Still, if Strasburg can recover fully from Tommy John surgery, he could come back better and stronger than ever. If it can lead to a healthy Strasburg having a full career as a big-league starter, than ultimately baseball fans in general will benefit.
Favre's Flip Flopping Continues
Tonight Brett Favre will step onto the field at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, once again suiting up for his "final season" (his twentieth) in the NFL. As a 49er fan in San Francisco right now, I'm happy to see Favre playing simply because it helps add some hype to tonight's otherwise boring pre-season game (since Michael Crabtree, Brian Westbrook and Frank Gore are likely not to play at all). But, as a fan who has spent the last 5+ years rooting on a team with a shaky situation at starting QB, I feel pain for the Vikings fans that have had to sweat out Favre's antics over the last few months.
We understand he's old experienced and that he doesn't want to attend need a camp full of two-a-days to get ready for the season, but it seems like he could at least come out and explain his intentions well before this point - instead of dragging out the drama on the fans.
Without Favre the Vikings are a possible NFC Wild Card team, but with him they become a legitimate Super Bowl contender - so there is no question that the fans would prefer to see him out there, rather than Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson taking snaps. However, it does seem like everyone in Minnesota would have slept a lot easier the last couple of months if he had simply explained his position and planned his return for this week.
Loads Of Sports On TV Today
The return of football to the landscape seems to be coming at the perfect time, as this is the first weekend in a while where it seems like there are more sporting events on TV than I can watch at once - which is a good problem to have.
Tiger never got going this week and although Phil is currently in the leader in the clubhouse, this years PGA Championship is being led by a group of young guys and one old school winner in Steve Elkington that have set up for what looks like an exciting end to the final round.
Between Hard Knocks on HBO and a nearly full slate of NFL pre-season games over the last few days, my eagerness to start the regular season has begun to peak - which culminated this morning with the Colts - 49ers game (as I'm an SF fan first). The pennant races in baseball are also starting to heat up, with possibly the most exciting series of the weekend also featuring my team as the Giants host the Padres. SF won on a walk-off last night and are currently trailing in their day game, as both teams vie for the lead in the NL West and NL Wild Card.
Add in the beginning of the Little League World Series, a big NASCAR race in Michigan, some Hall of Fame inductions, and even USA Basketball getting a win - and this is definitely the first solid weekend of sports viewing in quite a while.
Why I hate Phil
I guess it isn't "in vogue" to hate on Lefty these days. His "sweet as pie" wife and his mother are both going through the the hell that is cancer and he won a very emo Masters some four months ago. What's not to like about this guy? He is super long off the tee, he has imagination around the greens like a m-fer and he seems like an all around groovy guy - someone you'd love to watch a game and have a chicken sandwich with in the clubhouse post-round. My problem is that I just don't trust the guy to fully execute when he should. One of the greatest quotes about Jordan is that he "always lived up to the hype", if it was a big time game in a big time setting or if something huge was on the line you could always count on Jordan to go above and beyond what he was supposed to do in that situation and truly bring out the wow factor in doing so. This used to be the case with Tiger before the whole whores thing. I want to be clear that I am not taking anything away from Phil and his accomplishments which I readily admit make him one of the games greats, but Jordan and Tiger (pre-whores) wouldnt have dared to pull something like Phil did on number 18 at Winged Foot. They also wouldn't have pussed out when the #1 in the world ranking was there for the taking as Phillip did last week at Firestone. Everybody has written Tiger off and there is talk of him not getting the captains pick for the Ryder Cup(which is goddamn ludicrous), but my bet is that his killer instinct will kick in and you will see him, in one way or another, make a statement this week as to why he should be on that team. If Phil was in the same situation as Tiger is now I wouldnt have the same confidence.
Plus he has man tittays.
QOTH - Scottie Pippen Piping Up
Quote Of The Hour from Scottie Pippen - Spekaing on the topic of having Michael Jordan presenting him [Pippen] at his NBA Hall of Fame induction ceremony later this week: "I figure if anyone deserves to be on the stage with me, it's him."
Whoooaaaa... Slow your roll Scottie. I know this is your big day in the sun, and I sure you saw MJ using his HOF speech to talk a gang of smack last year, but let's keep some perspective. There is a "Michael Jordan" regardless of Scottie Pippen, Bill Cartwright, Luc Longley or BJ Armstrong - but their most definitely is no "Scottie Pippen" without His Airness - just ask the fine folks in Portland.
Scottie was a very good second option, who had a few nearly great seasons, but if he spent his career playing for the Warriors he woud stand about as good a chance at making the HOF as Mitch Richmond. In the one season where the Bulls became his team, Pippen had the chance in the play-offs to play the role of MJ - but he suddenly developed a headache and became a barely serviceable back-up to Tony Kukoc, destroying any chance he ever had of being considered a truly great player. He does have six rings and Jordan never won one without him, but we're not convinced that was an endorsement of Pippen or just a matter of being in the right place, at the right time (six times over again).
Monsterous Cuervo Games
Our friends at the SB Nation Red Sox Blog Over The Monster have made it pretty far through the Cuervo Games, but now need a bit of support to help get them over the last hurdle and into the finals in Vegas. Show some love and vote for them here!
24 days ago
GrantC
0 comments
1 recs






by 


by 













