A few random ramblings for your reading pleasure …
The kid is not so young any more.
Jeff Gordon collected win number 76 last night at the Phoenix race, which tied him with Dale Earnhardt on NASCAR’s all time win list. The race was very entertaining, especially the closing lap duel between Gordon and Tony Stewart. It was also nice to see the Gordon pay tribute to Earnhardt by circling the track with a black, red, and white number three Earnhardt flag. Good stuff. Gordon has been on fire this season with 7 top 10 finishes in 8 races, including 6 top 5 finishes, last night’s win, and 4 poles. Still early days, but if Gordon can keep this going, he is going to be tough to beat.
Bonds off to fast start.
Did anyone think that Bonds would get off to such a strong start? .349 AVG, 11 RBI, 5 HR, even a SB. I for one thought that Bonds was going to be a broken down man, limping towards a last gasp assault on Aaron’s homerun record. Instead, at 42, we get a rejuvenated man. Something in the water?
No longer a goat in NY?
Speaking of great starts, Alex Rodriguez is on fire, posting Herculean numbers – .379 AVG, 31 RBI, 12 HR. It seems that everyone loves a winner, including Yankees’ fans. A couple of walk-off HRs will do that to a guy. Go figure.
What were they thinking?
The Atlanta Braves have a serious mess on their hands at LF and 1B. Ryan Langerhans (OF) is having a terrible April (2-31; .065 AVG, 0 RBI, 0 HR), and Matt Diaz (OF) is only a marginal upgrade offensively (.270 AVG, 2 RBI, 1 HR). Craig Wilson (1B) and Scott Thorman (1B) have combined for 11 hits in 62 at-bats, 6 RBI, 2 HR). Chipper Jones (3B) and the pitching staff is holding the team together right now, but the Braves are going to have to address LF and/or 1B if they are going to contend deep into August.
Spider-Man 3.
The new Spider-Man 3 trailer looks awesome. I have not watched the entire first movie (only parts here and there), none of the second, but I am going to have to catch up quickly, become the Venom deal looks like some good clean fun. Todd McFarlane’s Amazing Spider-Man 298, 299, and 300 are some of the last remaining comic books that I still own. I had not thought about cashing in until seeing the trailer last night; may have to do some eBay searches this weekend.
PSP at a shockingly low price.
Sony finally decided to lower the price of the PSP to $169.99, which will probably not be enough to over come the dominance of Nintendo’s DS. The PSP has some nice games, but I doubt that a $30 price difference is going to make anyone run out and pick up a PSP. My issues with the PSP are pretty straight forward – it is not worth the money. The analog nub is not precise enough for most games, the battery-life is far too short for a portable system, and while the sports games look pretty, there is not a single killer app that makes me want to play my PSP with any sort of regularity.
Happy Sunday.
