The Mets Police

Congratulations to the official futbol team of The Mets Police.   That's right, Spain has won Euro 2008.  We knew it all along as we randomly picked a country to kill some time at work.

The football Giants cannot compete in the current economic environment without Personal Seat Licenses.  If they don't jam up hardcore fans with a $20,000 tax, how can they possibly be epected to compete.   Giants Stadium is clearly falling apart and needed to be replaced as soon as possible.



I can't imagine where the Giants would ever be able to win a Super Bowl given their present financial stress.   If you are a true fan, get out the checkbook and send the Maras $20,000 asap.



The Mets are driving me crazy.   I'm not sure I can add anything that every other blogger and columnist can't - they win, they lose.   These last two losses are particularly maddening.  The scary part is that there's nobody to deal that would get you any value.    Maine is the only starting pitcher I trust, and he needs to get out of the 6th.



Meanwhile, The Rays are still only a half game out.   Last night they wore some bizarre "Jax. Red Caps" jerseys.



Let's Go Spain today against Germany in the Euros.   Regular readers of The Mets Police know we've been with them all along and aren't being trendy.



Interesting stuff I saw in the Ledger about teams switching from Little League to Cal Ripken League - among the advantages are that Cal allows continuous batting and free defensive substitutions.  The LL can take it self a little too seriously at times, and there is nothing worse for youth baseball than making 12 year olds cry on ESPN.



I'm a big fan of Liberal Bee Jays.   That's right, the Mets Police love minor league baseball, and Mike Hargrove is working for them.  Of all the crazy minor league nicknames this has to be the best.   No I'm not making this up.



Clearly this team was named after Hawkeye Pierce's second roommate.



Speaking of minor league ball - Uni Watch talks about the Myrtle Beach Pelicans having Beach Chair Seats.    That might be even more fun than rooting for the Bee Jay's.   The picture is huge and will slow down Mets Police loading so you're gonna have to click:

http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u264/mwmiller20/CAR-CAL%20All-Star%20Game/100_1470.jpg

The Times is continuing this nonsense that it's so hard to travel and play baseball.  People do it every day, it's called a job.    We don't get a bus to the airport and a chartered flight, so let's calm down with this, swing a bat 4 times and stand in a park for a few hours, with 10 minute breaks on a park bench.  Oh and a multi-million dollar salary.  Stop.

Traveling Through Time Zones Can Take Toll on Teams

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Published: June 29, 2008

A recent study by a Virginia neurologist suggests that teams that travel through three time zones before a game are more likely to lose.



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/sports/baseball/29score.html?ex=1372478400&en=68da8ca9c45c2788&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

I hope everyone jumped on the Bandwagon De Espana like I asked. We're going to the finals. Woooooooooooooooo! Get the picture in picture ready for the weekend, there's also an interesting baseball game.

Followers of The Mets Police know we have adopted Spain as our favorite international soccer team. Get out your yellow shirt, and jump on the bandwagon. Espana has never lost a quarter-final (a total of two appearances). Futbol Fever, catch it now so you have something to watch Saturday afternoon. It's not like there's a big baseball game that day.

(My) Spain knocked off Italy today. On to take on Russia on Thursday. I know nothing about it, but it's fun to watch at work, and I guess we're all supposed to be fans of Real Madrid's Iker Casillas (that's him on the left). Hey why not.

Good job Iker!

Jerry forgot Pedro is a 4 inning pitcher. I like that Jerry has been letting the starters go loner but it was obvious that Pedro was gassed. J-Man took his sweet time getting him.

If you think the Mets look like idiots now, wait until Willie is in pinstripes at the All Star Game ceremonies. On Memorial Day Willie the most hated man in town (after his SNY comments) and now he's a folk hero. Unreal. Hurdle's even talking of letting him manage wearing a Yankee uniform.

"Only strippers get fired at 3am." Thanks to The Guardian for that line.

I wonder when the Mets are going to tell us how much tickets at Citi Field will cost. I guess this isn't the week to tell us they are jacking them up (again).

I love that MLB emails me to remind me to scalp tickets on stubhub. Organized scalping. Gotta love it.

Bill Madden has a Mazzilli factoid I did not know: Angelos and the team's attorneys drafted a statement of support for Palmeiro and asked Mazzilli to sign it. He refused, telling the lawyer he would have nothing to do with supporting a player who had lied to him, lied to his son and lied to Congress about taking steroids. Two days later, Mazzilli was fired. Also, by the way, in Anaheim.

Weekly NASCAR mention: Road courses suck. Stop with these. I'm not watching today.

Weekly Soccer mention: Go Spain! My adopted team takes on Italy today. I know you're watching.

Finally, I leave you with this link because it gets into the Giants-ignoring that the Wilpons do:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/30386-New-York-Mets-Have-Worst-Ownership-in-Baseball

When the Mets added black to their uniforms in the late '90s, Wilpon claimed that it was in honor of the old NY Giants, whose colors were orange and black. There might be some piece of the new facility dedicated to the Giants, perhaps a men's room or a closet in the upper deck. The old Giants fans, many of whom are now Mets fans, cannot believe the balls on Fred Wilpon. The New York Giants actually had a bigger fanbase than the Dodgers. They had more World Series wins and just as many Hall of Famers. But Fred doesn't want you to know about that. The Giants? @#$% the Giants!!

Come on..I can't convince you to join me to put on ESPN at noon? "My" Spain goes against Russia!

As i stated over the weekend, I know nothing about soccer but the folks at Hotdog & Friends do, and I like their style (below):

http://www.hotdogandfriends.com/?p=696

Spain: What a debut turned in by Spanish striker Fernando “El Nino” Torres. In his first season with Liverpool, the Spanish striker slotted in beautifully with Steven Gerrard, finishing his debut campaign with an astonishing 34 goals in all competitions.

Spent about a half an hour looking around to see if there are any fun soccer blogs. They are few and far between....but I'm feeling the Euro 2008 and my adopted team of Espana.

So since I don't know anything about soccer, I need to cut and paste from someone who does.

And since everyone is now rolling their eyes, I need to help sucker you in...so courtesy of the folks at hotdogandfriends, here's a longer than usual cut and paste complete with snarky commentary and pretty women.

Switzerland - Your old buddy Hotdog has a horse in this race. Switzerland kicks off Euro 2008 this Saturday at 9 a.m. at St. Jakob Stadion, which was just a short ride on the #14 tram from my place in Basel. My adopted home for 18 glorious months, Switzerland stands a puncher’s chance to advance out of the group stage.

(editor’s note: most girls in Switzerland are not this attractive)

and the rest of the group A preview is here: http://hotdogandfriends.com/?p=673 and I will add hotdog to the links for the month to carry us through.

Sorry to hear that Jim McKay passed away. If there's any silver lining that can come from that it's that it comes on a day where all eyes will be on ABC Sports for the Belmont, so hopefully they will work in an all-star tribute.

It's 96 degrees in the shade at Mets Police HQ so a tip of the hat to Jim, go Big Brown, go Spain (adopted team for Euro 2008) and of course Lets Go Mets (except Willie.)