Contrast that to April:

God DAMN it.

Naturally, this would be the year that we wrap with three against San Diego (none of which are going to be nationally televised, never mind that it’s one of the only division races not wrapped up yet).  I can’t help but feel like it will come down to the Giants needing 2 of 3 and not being able to scrape any runs together, but then I remember…

In Posey we trust.  After all, he smashes Dodgers.

I know it's not Russell Martin, but he can still suck it.

Fast-forward to August.  The M’s have the 2nd worst record in the AL and have canned their manager.  Cliff Lee?  Gone for prospects.  The clubhouse that was so loose and likable?  Not so much with the happy.  The lauded defense?  Tied for twenty-third in the league.

The Giants?  Well, this team looks a lot like last years team.  Aubrey Huff has worked out quite nicely.

Seriously, how can you not like this guy?

The Buster Posey era has *finally* begun in earnest, and while Tim Lincecum hasn’t had the numbers we’re used to, Madison Bumgarner has picked up the slack lately, and the pitching is, overall quite good.  Todd Wellemeyer has been mercifully buried, Bengie is a Ranger, and the Giants are nipping at San Diego’s heels.

It’s quite a bizarro turnaround from my preseason expectations, but sometimes, it’s good to be wrong.

"Hey, you guys got some cap space, right?"

Without a rooting interest in this series, I still found myself yelling at the TV to foul, pressure the ball, do something, other than let the clock run out on the NBA’s best regular season team.  Even after the Cavs got the ball back, Mo Williams seemed content to race around for 15 seconds trying to get the perfect shot, and didn’t look to get the ball into LeBron’s hands, instead finding Sideshow Bob Anderson Varejao for a three that clanged off the rim, and the rest was a formality.

My heart would like to see LeBron stay in Cleveland, but my gut says that just won’t happen.  If Mike Brown is canned as head coach (as he probably should be; Shaq and Z had no business playing so much last night), the odds of LeBron coming back increase dramatically, but without a pretty big roster overhaul (again) I don’t see how Cleveland’s chances are any better than this year.  There has to be someone that can really push LeBron and light a fire under his ass, and teach him some accountability.  As Adrian Wojarnowski wrote:

The next time you hear James, as the franchise star, say, “This was on me,” will be the first.

It’s a terrible thought that LeBron, the single most naturally gifted basketball player of this generation, still has so much to learn about accountability.

Oh my God, I think I am.

We’ll start with the obvious, that even Bengie himself admits:  Bengie Molina is one of the slowest human beings to ever be paid to run.  Granted, this is not his primary duty, but it’s part of the job description.  Giants fans do poke fun at him, but it’s usually harmless stuff, and most certainly not broadcast on the largest sports network in the world.

Enter SportsCenter:

I know the quality isn’t great, but you can clearly hear Chariots of Fire playing, and the sound of ESPN execs peeing themselves between paroxysms of laughter (maybe I’m the only one that can hear that.)

I’m certainly not the first to come to Bengie’s defense.  Says Henry Schulman:

You, as a Giants fan, have a right to think what you will of Molina’s speed, and maybe you threw your hands up in frustration when he couldn’t score on a play that results in a run 99.5 percent of the time. That said, for a network that considers itself the worldwide leader, that is a partner of Major League Baseball, such a showing was inexcusable.

I agree strongly with Schulman’s take on ESPN, considering this was the only highlight from a game that concluded a 3-game sweep in Florida, giving the Giants the best record in the NL.  Oh, and Matt Cain had a no-hitter through 6 innings.

To his credit, Bengie fired back from his own blog (though to some, this may not be surprising; Bengie has notoriously thin skin).  To wit:

I know I’m a public figure and I just have to take my lumps. But I would like those people at ESPN who, from a safe distance, make fun of players for a cheap laugh, to remember that players are actual people. With wives and mothers and fathers and children and brothers and sisters. My mother saw the clip. She doesn’t speak English so she asked Yadier’s wife (Yadier is Bengie’s brother) what the announcer was saying. Yadier’s wife didn’t want to tell her. My mom was pretty upset. She didn’t understand why they were making fun of my running when there are so many other things I do every day to help the team win. I told her I didn’t understand it, either.

This is pretty much the cherry on top of the “ESPN is a mockery of itself” layer cake (the previous two layers are ESPN New York and ESPN Boston, which seems redundant, since they only give two shits about NY and Boston on the “Motherstation” as is.)

It’s sad to see; I remember getting to my babysitter’s house before school in elementary school and being so excited to watch SportCenter.  There was never a worry about whether the Giants or A’s would be buried behind 45 minutes of talking about whether or not the Yankees will win 103 games or (gasp!) 102, or devoting an entire hour to the upcoming BoSox Yanks series (spoiler alert: Boston sucks this year!).  We were guaranteed to get highlights and analysis of *every game* the night before.  I wonder if any of the kids I sat in that living room with even watch SportCenter anymore.  I know I don’t.

So Bengie, despite my reaction to you re-signing with the Giants:

MikeAlbert24

I am going to kill myself RT @mccoveychron: http://sbnation.com/e/1024624 2:50 PM Jan 19th via web

And despite the questionable decision to play through an injury once Buster Posey was recalled last year (and ONLY once he was recalled), and the fact that I know you won’t hit .340 all year while actually taking bad pitches, in this instance, this one monumental occasion, on May 13th, 2010, I, Michael Albert, have your back.

Lower your shoulder and jar their balls loose, Bengie.

I can’t stop watching it!

The (scheduled) fights were an unfortunate example of why so many fans clamor for the UFC to be the One promotion.  Three title fights in two hours, with extended commercial breaks and pauses between fights (during which I tuned to Spike for the re-air of UFC 110, which I had missed, and saw entire fights before needing to tune back) combined with amateurish commentary positively killed the card.  I am an unapologetic Gus Johnson fanboy, but he has a LOT of learning to do if he truly wants to do MMA play by play.

Production issues aside, the fights were not the “edge-of-your-seat” thrillers than CBS was hoping for by any stretch.  Mo Lawal’s takedowns were absolutely unstoppable and there’s nothing like a dude’s legs flailing like spaghetti when he’s being driven in to the mat.  Mousasi had a surprising amount of offense off his back, but one he gassed, the fight turned into an clinic on wrestling and top control.  Mo will keep learning, and once he develops some guard-passing skill, he’s going to do a lot of damage.

Melendez-Aoki was just a clash of styles; a submission expert who can’t strike or take people down vs a wrestleboxer who is extremely difficult to submit.  Throw in a pinch of bizarre reffing (disallowing Aoki’s offensive “crab walk” in favor of forcing him to stand) and you have a fairly uneventful decision, though Melendez’ flying guard punch was phenomenal (click here and scroll down a touch.)

I thought Jake Shields’ head was going to be forcibly removed after he absorbed a sledgehammer-right from Hendo, but the recovery ability and heart he showed in not only surviving but positively dominating Hendo for the next 20 minutes cannot be understated.  Granted, his ground and pound was ineffective (understatement) I do think he suffers from Strikeforce’s rules banning elbows on the ground.  Once he moves to the UFC (once, not if; it’s happening) we’ll be able to see whether or not he’s capable of finishing high-level fighters with strikes.

Unfortunately for Strikeforce now, positional dominance does not create ratings.  I found myself checking my email during most of these fights; I can only imagine what the casual MMA fan’s reaction was.

Also has me thinking a little.  I live in a city with one of the best local music scenes, with dozens of small venues where there are shows almost every night.  I love music.  I *never* go out to a show on a whim.  Problem #1 – I’m not really “in tune” with the local music scene, and Problem #2 – 90% of what I hear on the radio makes me change to NPR.  Hard to separate the wheat from the chaff nowadays.

For tonight, though, local bands can go to hell.  Muse will melt their faces.

By the time we were done and had washed our hands, the talker hadn’t budged (or shut up) and the other gent had nervously moved about 6 inches closer to his stall-vation, muttering “Yeah” and “Huh” and “Oh yeah?” as politely as his base functions would allow.

Awkward.

Thankfully, we were out the door before my co-worker started laughing.

UFC 111:

• GSP by TKO, rd 2
• Carwin by TKO/KO, rd 1
• Fitch by UD

Anyone else’s brackets in flames?  Why did I trust Villanova?

Instead of reading and writing about depressed reaction after depressed reaction, I have spent my spare browsing time reading several years’ worth of webcomics.  I strongly recommend the complete Wondermark.  Why?  Example:

Perhaps bears in silly hats is more your milieu?

Been enjoying the all-encompassing storyline of Questionable Content as well.  Little bit drama, but mostly funny stuff.  Frankly, one of the reasons I enjoy them (these comics) so much is that it’s good to see people really hitting it big doing what they love to do.  They’re clearly the exception to the rule, but it’s nice to know it happens to some folks.

Which has lead to other thoughts as of late.  After checking the job postings at work and seeing how woefully under-qualified I am for absolutely everything we do as a company, I started thinking more about what I’d really want to do, either here or elsewhere, and encountered some roadblocks:

• The stuff I enjoy (music, sports, gaming, acting [I think]) is nigh untenable as a profession

• Other stuff I’d be interested in (civil service, logistics, teaching) would require my going back to school, which is just too damned expensive
• Find a way to be my own boss (start a business/bar/restaurant) also would require school/enormous time commitment/likely never seeing my as-yet-unborn children

So A, B, or C, people?

The Spurs are getting hot at a good time, and they’ve beaten a couple of very good teams (as opposed to the bottom feeders that started their recent run) and have averted panic from the Spurs’ masses.  Any of the panic from early in the season has washed almost completely away for me.

Love it.