Learning Something New

Harv and Eddie are related?!?!? I didn't know that.

And who is calling Al "evil"? I can probably guess.

Another great analysis on The Sopranos, Dave. I think we may have well seen the last of Uncle Junior as he goes gently into that good night. He leaves with a whimper, and not a bang. And how about Tony and Paulie taking their road trip in a mini-van? What happened to the Escalade?

Hey, did you all notice that my man, Josh Beckett, just rung up his fifth win of the season tonight? Maybe we should be queuing Elvis singing "Mystery Train" along about now....

"Train, train...sixteen coached long..."

PERIOD # 3. "Big Train Steams Ahead."

THE STANDINGS:

The big week of THE BIG TRAIN jumped the BT from 8th at this time last week to 5th place today. The ROCK CATS are still driving the NPL pace car with the LOCKHORNS in hot pursuit and the OWLS steadily holding onto 3rd. The ALABAMA SLAMMERS are playing good baseball and hold down 4th place.... Those of us in 6th to 10th place still have a couple more days to play our .... "It's still only April" card. Here's an odd thing about the standings... When we drafted, the first 3 teams selecting were in this order ........ 1. Big O. 2. Dave. 3. Piffy. And when we made transactions on Wednesday, it was the same order to select.. O-Dave-Piff. Wonder if the slow start of those top three players taken - Pujols - Howard - Soriano, have anything to do with that!

THE TEAMS:

Many teams had big individual performances this week. Maybe none more surprising than the Shut-Out tossed by Paul Maholm of the PITTSBURGH O's. And looking at O's hitters, Beltran and Chipper rank 4th and 5th right now in Year-to-Date hitting points. The pitching staff is a work in progress and Larry said he finally grew tired of Mariano Rivera's shenanigans, and thus he was shown the door. (Yes, O actually used the word "shenanigans"). Back to Maholm for a moment... When he finished that game, during the post-game high-five / fist-bump line-up that takes place on the field, Maholm was coming up to pitching coach Jim Colborn. But Colborn did not give Paul the standard slap or fist. Instead, in the ultimate show of respect, the coach, gave the youngster a "tip of the cap." A nice gesture from an Old School coach.


And although currently in 10th place, The O's are sort of like Jack Bauer of "24." They always bounce back. In fact, further down in this report, Larry has a special message he wants to deliver to the rest of the league... (and this one isn't "Beat 'em Bucs".)

Another big individual pitching performance in Period 3 was Cole Hamels of the 69'ERS. He didn't notch the Shutout, but Hamels got a CG-Win with 15 K's, a 45 point game. Hey, we now know that Piffy was born in 1968 and that he has a birthday this weekend. As the "young guy" of this league Piff, I see future Kommissioner duties in your future!! The Niners grabbed A.J. Pierzynski off the waiver wire. AJ's off-season claim to fame was that he had the role of one of the on-stage bouncers / fight breaker up guys, on the Jerry Springer Show.

Here's another item about the top score of 609 by THE BIG TRAIN. Last season, Bob's top tally was 595 points in week 19. A sign of good things to come in '07 perhaps... With the Train adding JJ Hardy, in addition to having JJ Putz on the roster, it was pointed out that this club leads the league with players who go by the JJ initial. Now you may recall that in Bob & Chris' 1999 Championship season of the SHOELESS JOE'S, they were the only team to roster two players named "Omar." Yes, it was Vizquel and Daal. Ok, come on now.... Seriously folks...... Isn't this the kind of obscure information that keeps you coming back here for more??????

So many hitters in baseball are hovering around the "Mendoza Line", a .200 Batting Average. But I'm looking for a description for the KOOPERSTOWN KIDS Adam LaRoche. You know, he's got the batting average that is bouncing over and then under again, the .100 mark. Please e-mail your suggestions to GoldSox21@comcast.net or leave it in the comments section. If he's still hitting at that mark for me in August, I'll definately need a name for it by then. Thanks!

The Beat Goes On... Of course we're talking about YOUR first place ROCK CATS of Mr. Johnny Stasko. Both elements of hitting and pitching are Rockin' and a team BA of .290 leads the league. Jose Reyes has been the best NPL hitter not named Alex Rodriguez with 117 points in 87 At Bats thus far. And here's another outstanding individual performance.... Jake Peavy with the 16 K game (including 9 in a row) but ironically doesn't get the W as Piffy's Trevor Hoffman blows the save. The RP's have been big for the RC's. Street & Ray are 3rd and 4th in overall Pitching Points at this time. Those two Closers even have a total of 4 Wins between them. As the first month concludes, we're all Chasin' the Cat.....

Saying "My outfield is a mess", the OWLS John Frissora, was able to grab two new boys off the waiver wire in Shane Victorino (Phils) and youngster Adam Lind of the Jays. Shane-Vic was the 18th round draft pick of the 'Horns. But as long as Alex The Great is healthy and happy this team will be a contender. What more can we keep saying about A-Rod? An amazing April, 150 points in 78 At Bats. And check out Travis Hafner's numbers... He may be overlooked because of Alex, but he's been impressive in his own right (5-15, .373). A crazy game Wednesday night for the Owls Tim Hudson. 8 shutout innings, 12 K's against the Fish, but then Big Daddy's Bob Wickman comes in and blows it for T-Hud. It's those damn pitch counts!! (Right Bob?)

Now that Harv had guys on the DL this week, the ALABAMA SLAMMERS are the only NPL team that has not had to make a DL move yet. And one owner in the league has accussed Al of being "evil." Not sure if that's in the Knievel sense or not...... The Slams were looking at grabbing JJ Hardy this week but he was gone when their turn came up. Maybe not getting a guy you want can turn out to be a good thing. The ss who would have been cut was Stephen Drew, and he turned around and rewarded his owner by belting out the big HR off Trevor Hoffman in that D-Back win (the Peavy game) later that Wednesday night. And this may surprise you, but the Chi-Sox Bobby Jenks is the highest scoring Pitcher in the entire NPL after racking up 5 Saves this scoring Period. Jenks' 8 Saves on the year are 8 more than some guy named Rivera has.

So speaking of it perhaps being a good thing not to get a pick-up you had targeted..... Remember last week when the H-BOMBS wanted OF Carlos Quentin? Well when Harv took him first, the Bombers held tight with Shawn Green, who would have got the axe. Then Green turns around and out-scores Quentin in the 7 day period, 39 to 7. Ya just never know. Matsui returned from the DL this week... The Bomber OF must be loaded. A tough call when you have to get rid of Brad Hawpe, a 9th round selection on draft night. And Big Daddy was off work on Wednesday, and when I told him that Al, Tony and Eddie were concerned and worried about him, Big D said he wasn't buying any of it.... Just more shenanigans from those guys, he says. Hmmm, there's that word again!!

More big games??? The BULLDOGS Matt Cain tosses a gem earlier in the week. A CG 3-hitter and this guy looks like the real deal. The BD's are hoping for good news on Big Ben Sheets' groin. Only in fantasy sports do grown men worry about other guys groins, huh? Dogs came out sluggin this week too.. Magglio hits .521 for the week. Khalil .461. Xavier .363. Miggy .391, Nomar .315 (Do any of these guys have last names??) And this Willy Taveras guy is driving Tony and Eddie nuts!! I dont' see a long term future for Willy T as a Bulldog...

When the Dogs picked up Mike Pelfrey last week, it was reported here that T&E said "Thanks Big Daddy" for making him available by cutting him the week before...... Well, this week the LOCKHORNS had this to say about the Dog now cutting Pelfrey themselves..... "Hey Eddie, are ya still thanking Big Dummy for that bum now?" Yikes! The verbal barrage Harv is tossing on his distant relative continues from draft night. Just think if he wasn't related! Harv has been going through the same search that Big O and myself were doing.... A good 3rd baseman is hard to find these days. Thus, the Chone Figgins double move for $6.00 to stash the speedster..... But 2nd base has been no problem for the Horns. Kinsler and Weeks rank 7 and 9 in NPL overall hitting points.

And now to Big O's message to the rest of the NPL..... Larry's a little hot about being in the cellar at this time, but says to look out, like Jack in "24",

Whoa..... Let's all stay calm, and look at the struggles of three former Pirates in MLB. Although Bonds, Ramirez and Giles are having good starts to their seasons, take a look at these three players........


Craig Wilson ---- 0 HR, 1 RBI, .122 BA. 16 K's in 41 AB's
Jason Kendall -- 0 HR (no surprise there), 5 RBI. No longer batting at the top of the order.
Rob Mackowiak -- A .219 average in his part-time role.

THE SOPRANOS: Sunday, April 22. "Remember When"

A couple of things about this episode... First was the fact that for anyone who seen the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, it was an immediate comparison to that flick and Uncle Junior's nut house that he is incarceriated in. Sad ending for UJ. They should have just had a big deaf long-haired Indian guy smother him with a pillow at the end.

Couple of creepy things..... I and others I have talked to and read, had an eerie feeling about seeing the young Asian guy starting to crack and you could see a violent incident was coming. Eerie in the sense that it was this soon after the VT incident, but of course this would have been filmed long before that took place. But that did give me the creeps. Also on the Fishing Boat. Geez, the camera work with the boat rocking.... I was starting to feel sea sick myself. And then wondering if T was going to whack Paulie right there. If so, it would have probably had to have been with that Axe or big Fishing Knife they kept showing.... Ooo, that would have been messy, huh?

My Favorite Line..... Without a doubt...... Uncle Junior dictating his letter to Vice President Dick Cheney, by saying......... "Like yourself, I was involved in an unfortunate incident when a gun I was handling misfired......." Whichever writer came up with that one should get a raise!

Some Trivia...... The end credits list a womans name... Kate Rogal. She was the lady of the evening that was Paulie's "date" at the dinner table in Miami with Tony and Beansie. Her imdb.com page shows her as "Katie Cardille-Rogal." It's the daughter of Pittsburgh's own Chilly Billy Cardille. I'd reveal my source on that info, but I'm too embarrased to say......

And to conclude, the NPL BLOG contacted the White House to get a reaction for the VP on how he feels about having his name and a former hunting incident of his in an episode of The Soprano's........ Well Mr. Cheney, what do ya think????

Catch ya on the flip side......

--Kommish.

PERIOD # 2. "Rock Cats Are Purring."

LEAGUE ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS:

Just a note in case you haven't noticed..... To see what the Year-to-Date Transaction totals are, it is this year being listed on the "Commissioner Board" of the CBS - NPL website - right side - yellow panel.

And I thought that at the end of the weekly report we would go with a little Sopranos recap and discussion. I know there are a number of yins guys (and girls) who are fans, so with series winding down to a bang-up finish, why not? And please feel free to add your feedback on this subject, be it in comments or e-mail.

Now, on to the nonsense.... In no specific order........
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The 69'ers woke up this morning to find themselves behind the O and in 10th place. Piff has a lot of players nicked up, none the least is # 3 overall pick Alfonso Soriano. My sources tell me that a frustrated Piffy came into the lunch room at the Laborers District Council this morning and turned over the buffet table, ala Jim Leyland. Piff don't worry - only 20 days gone, about 160 to go.

How good have those Rock Cats been? They lead the NPL in both hitting and pitching points, and of their 17 pitching Wins, 3 are from the RP's. They're purring like a well oiled machine right now and this week added two veteran outfielders in Felipe's son and L-Gon.

A team that quietly moved into the first division this week were the Alabama Slammers. Big man Carlos Lee went on a rampage and Erik Bedard has 3 Wins, despite an ERA of 5.40. Mr. Cotton has a new "poll" on our CBS website to check out. One item insinuates that Tony is in a "Chess Slump!!" Say it ain't so T, say it ain't so......

If there is one team thus far that could be described as "steady" it would be those Flying Owls. A solid 3rd place as a result of being 4th in both hitting and pitching points. I've heard from more than one team - saying that they regret the decision to pass on selecting A-Rod, and it appears that Tim Hudson is back and better than ever. BTW, I had him last year when he sucked!! (This could be a theme for tonight).

The Dynamic Duo of the Bulldogs grabbed a pair of Dodgers in the pick-ups this week - Nomar and the Wolf. The X-Man has been a pleasant surprise. Who's pick was he anyway? Tony's? Eddie? Seems to be some disagreement about that.

The Kooperstown Kids took a high risk - high reward shot this week with Josh Hamilton of the Redlegs. When he joined my squad, I gave Josh four important words of advice...... "SAY NO TO DRUGS." We'll see...... And in a real swift move by yours truly, it was after 9:00 PM on Wednesday night when I noticed two transaction reports, one time-stamped at 7:35 PM and the other at 8:25 PM stating that Howie Kendricks was officially DL'ed by the Angels... I must be losing my edge. I never caught that move while doing the phone calls..... Way to go Slappy (Me)!!!! Oh well, I guess I'll just have to wait until next Wednesday to pick up Jose Castillo, if no one else grabs him first.

Speaking of Pirates, The Big Train was very happy and surprised to get "Gorzo", as he is affectionately known to Bob.. The Train was pretty sure that the O's would be on that move in round 1. Here's a scary thought for the BT.... 3 Nationals and 2 Royals from the hitting side. Gutsy.... During this past week, the Badger was the benefactor of an almost unheard of 10 inning Complete Game Win. This was by Roy Halladay and he out-dueled Bob's other SP - Jeremy Bonderman of Tigertown. The last time there was a 10 inning CG in MLB was back in 2005. It was Mark Mulder and I'm sure Mr. Frissora will recall that Mulder was an Owl in '05.

It may not be a stretch to say that the The Pittsburgh O's have had more injuries that Mick Foley in his WWF heyday.

But the O has already made 5 DL moves in 2007. They are almost halfway to their 2006 grand total of 11 DL moves. And old friend Tim Wakefield is back in the fold. I didn't realize this until Larry told me - but did ya know that Mariano Rivera doesn't have a Save yet!! O will be playing softball on Wednesday nights again, albeit the late game. When I told him he may be calling in his moves during team warm ups, Larry said.... "Ah, we really don't do much warming up." Good Luck to The Roadhouse in 2007!!

The Lockhorns are another solid team in 2007 thus far. But last week Felix Hernandez was "King" and this week the dude has a tender elbow. As David K. Littlefield likes to say.... "You can never have enough pitching." Harv's middle infield is going nuts... Jimmy Rollins with 6 HR's and Ian Kinsler with 7. In fact the Kinsler whispers have started...... "The next Chase Utley?" On the moves this week, Big Daddy picked Paul Byrd in round 1 and was targeting Carlos Quentin in round 2. He's the highly touted D-Back rookie fresh off the DL. But Harv called in for round 1 and promptly tossed out Quentin's name, then had a hearty belly laugh when I informed him B.D. wanted him in round 2.

But do the H-Bombs get the last laugh?? First off, we have to mention the Mark Buehrle No-Hitter. A total of 83 points for Buehrle that evening. He had 2 points coming into the game. Forgive me if I sound bitter, but this bulky southpaw screwed me last year as he went 3-7 with a 6.44 ERA for me after the All-Star Break. But in any event - congrats to B.D. on the No-No. But here's where J-Schom got back at Harv... At the same time Buehrle was doing his thing, the 'Horns John Maine of the Mets has his own No-Hitter going against Florida into the 7th inning. At least until Big Dad called upon his own Miguel Cabrera to get the knock to break it up..... And in his best Vince McMahon impression, the H-Bomb owner then said...... "Scrreeew you Harv!!"-

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Ok, here's my Greg Brown rant for this week..... And no, it's not about "Raising the F***ing Jolly Roger"..... I have LaRoche on my team, so sure, that's then two reasons to be glad to see the guy hit one out of the park. But I don't think I'll be able to stand it if Brown continues to use the HR call he pulled out for LaRoche's long ball this week in St. Louis........ In case you missed it.....

"That's an ADAM BOMB... From... La-La-La-La-Roche!!!!!"

Please Greg. Just stop it.

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SOPRANOS - Sunday, April 15. "STAGE 5."

Wow, what great dialogue in this show. This one could have been one of the best ever for good lines from beginning to end. And anytime you get Christopher and Little Carmine together you know the malapropisms are going to fly.... High comedy! Sydney Pollack playing the part of the incarcerated murdering doctor Warren Feldman was great. His calm description of what he did was too funny. "At that point I had to fully commit." Beautiful...

But my favorite line of the week came from Paulie Walnuts.... Or should I say the always self-absorbed Paulie.......

"I beat cancer but it took Johnny Sack out. Ride the painted pony let the spinning wheel glide, huh?"

And what's up with Blanca being bitchy with A.J.?? I think she might be pregnant!!
(Yikes).

And the baby christening was Godfather-esque wasn't it? I'd say if you have Christopher to get whacked in your office pool, you're looking pretty good.... The look on Christopher's face when he hugs Tony is priceless. He knows. He has to.

All in all, a great episode....

99 Baseball things from a sometimes twisted view

A veritable hodgepodge of stuff related to baseball in list form, but believe it or not, nothing related to fantasy. As you will see, some are just personal favorites..

In alphabetical order..

1. Amazin' Mets
2. Angels in the Outfield (1951)
3. Annie Savoy
4. Aribba, Aribba
5. Autunm Classic
6. Babe calls his shot (or not?)
7. Bad News Bears
8. Ball Four
9. Barry Pepper - playing the role of Roger Maris in 61*
10. Baseball Encyclopedia
11. Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez
12. Big Hurt
13. Big Poison and Little Poison
14. Big Red Machine
15. Big Unit
16. Bill James
17. Black Betsy
18. Black Sox
19. Bleeding Dodger Blue
20. Bob Uecker - playing the role of Harry Doyle in Major League
21. Box Scores
22. Boys of Summer
23. Bucky F***ing Dent
24. Bull Durham
25. Cal taking a victory lap for the fans at Camden Yards, 2131
26. Can of Corn
27. Chico Ruiz Steals Home! Phillies blow the '64 pennant
28. Clemente - arms flailing wildly, rounding 2nd, heading for 3rd
29. Cooperstown
30. Crack of the bat
31. Crash Davis
32. Curse of the Bambino
33. David Halberstam
34. Dizzy and Daffy
35. Donnie Baseball
36. Ernie Harwell
37. ESPN's Baseball Tonight
38. Felipe, Jesus and Mateo Alou
39. Field of Dreams
40. Fisk waving his Home Run fair
41. Fitted Hat Night at Yankee Stadium - Seinfeld, season 5
42. Forbes Field
43. Fritz Peterson & Mike Kekich (Yankees) swap wives & families, spring training 1973
44. Gas House Gang
45. Gehrig saying he was the luckiest man on the face of the Earth
46. Green Monster
47. Hammerin' Hank
48. Hot Stove League
49. Joe L. Brown
50. Joltin Joe DiMaggio
51. Junior
52. Keith Hernandez as "The Boyfirend" - Seinfeld, season 3
53. Keeping a Scorecard
54. Lumber Company
55. Mantle Rookie Card
56. Maz
57. McGwire hugging the Maris kids
58. Mendoza Line
59. Moneyball
60. Moonlight Graham
61. Mr. October
62. Mudville Nine
63. Nuke LaLoosh
64. Opening Day
65. Peter Gammons
66. Pine Tar Game
67. Pitchers and Catchers Report
68. Roger Kahn
69. Roy Hobbs
70. Rule 5 Draft
71. Say it ain't so Joe, say it ain't so
72. Schilling's Bloody Sock
73. Seventh Inning Stretch
74. Slugfests
75. Spitball Literary Magazine
76. Splendid Splinter
77. Stan the Man
78. Stargell windmilling the bat
79. Steve Bartman
80. Sultan of Swat
81. The Gunner and his partner The Possum
82. The Natural
83. The Rocket
84. The Sandlot
85. The Shot Heard 'Round the World
86. This Week in Baseball (TWIB)
87. Tigers Old English 'D'
88. Tinker to Evers to Chance
89. Tony C.
90. Topps, Fleer and Upper Deck
91. Vin Scully
92. When It Was a Game (HBO)
93. Whiz Kids
94. Wild Thing
95. Willie Mays
96. Willie Mays Hayes
97. Winter Meetings
98. Wrigley
99. Yankee Pinstripes


Feel free to add #100 (or more).....

PERIOD # 1. "It's a Harvey Night in Pittsburgh."

As the long 11 day Period 1 comes to a conclusion, it should be noted that the ROCK CATS led the league for 7 of those 11 days. The Raven's 12 Pitching Wins lead the league in that category and the RC's also lead the NPL in steals with 14. 2nd round pick Jose Reyes is part of that success and is off to a great start for John and the New York Metropolitians.


Some of yins guys had smart-alack comments about the 26th round pick of the PITTSBURGH O's - Chris Duffy. But "Duff" as O likes to call him, is off to a nice start, with a .294 average and even getting some walks. Big O needed a catcher this week as Ramon Hernandez landed on the DL. He took Molina. Not Yadier (St.L), not Jose (LAa), and not Gustavo (Wsox). It was Bengie of the G-Men. I told O that we should have a new rule for catchers next season. If you take one Molina, you get all the Molina's..... Oh, those zany catching Molina's!!


The 69'ERS had to drop Brad Lidge this week. Who needs a set-up guy? Matt Morris looks like a nice pick-up, but Piff needs the hitting to heat up, including #3 overall, Mr. Soriano of the Cubbies. I don't think Piffy had a very good night at the bowling alleys on Wednesday. Why? Well, it was FREE BEER NIGHT!!


The BULLDOGS had a message for Big Daddy..... "Thanks for Mike Pelfrey." He was a Bomber on draft night. And John responded with... "Oh yeah draft night. That's when I received my Championship Trophy, now isn't it?" The Dogs traded in a 1st baseman with a .176 batting average (Shea Hillenbrand) for a guy hitting .370 (Mike Jacobs). And how 'bout ex-Pirate Kip Wells with a 1.38 ERA after two starts for the Dogs and St. Louie Cards!


And although he's in the top half of the standings, the H-BOMBS say they're feeling some Bad Karma early on.... After putting Chris Carpenter on the DL, J-Schom is watching TV and sees Mike Mussina leave with a Hammy. He may miss a start or he may go on the DL. Too early to tell, but the Bombs will keep pluggin the holes. A rather strange statistic.... B.D. is the only team that has not registered a "triple" from any of his hitters yet. Who knew?


Who is the poor sap that happens to have the most Indians/Mariners on their team, and thus has had the most games lost with this damn snow. It's the KOOPERSTOWN KIDS of course! I lead the league in this dubious category with 4 (V-Mart, Johjima, Peralta & Sowers). Harv and The Big Train have 3 each. I have also had the pleasure of watching one Adam K. LaRoche play for my team... Yikes!!


If there has been a hard luck team with SP's having good games and not registering the Wins thus far, it has to be THE BIG TRAIN. But on the bright side.... Where did Orlando Hudson come from? Answer: Round 17. He's hitting at a .390 clip and racking up bunches of NPL points. At this time Bob anxiously awaits the first winner of his 13-Run Pool... (GO GO DODGERS!!) Just in case you care who I got!!!!!


Even though he's under the weather this week with Bronchitis, the ALABAMA SLAMMERS were able to post the seasons first POLL QUESTION on the CBS-NPL home page. In the middle, scroll down a little, it has a red background. Seems like all of Al's questions tend to lead to Big Daddy as the obvious answer!! Not that there's anything wrong with that......
The Slams grabbed Curtis Granderson this week... Several teams coveted Curtis, some for the 2nd time through, if he was there.....


Right near the top of the leader board are those pesky OWLS. John has to be lovin the fact that A-Rod is a hitting monster again, and that's a bargain with the 5th overall pick. His 66 points lead all batters at this time. He's already at 6-16, .354. And Adam Dunn of JF's team is 5th in overall NPL hitting points. It's possible that John is actually pulling for the Sens over the Pens.. That's what happens when they are one of your NHL teams in the MOASP (Mother of all Sports Pools).


And now for this week's # 1 team - The LOCKHORNS!! Yes folks, Lockhorn Nation was all abuzz when young Felix Hernandez was shooting for the No-No. What a start to the season this guy has had. He's been better than Johan-like after 2 starts. And Harv got him in round 8. As Felix is the youngest Hernandez in MLB, the Horns then added the oldest Hernandez on Wednesday night in Orlando El-Duque of the Metties. As I was talking to Harv on the phone that night reviewing the No-Hit possibility, it was mid-way through the 3rd period of that hockey game. Harv said...... "It's about time they send out that big black mother-fu**** to kick someone's ass."

Bill Harvey OLD SCHOOL HOCKEY!!!

You gotta love it...

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Below is a posting on "The Soprano's"............ And, since I have to be off work all day this Monday to "prep" for a yukkie medical test on Tuesday, I'll be home and possibly posting a blog article (actually a list) called..... "99 things........"

"The Sopranos" - Trying to predict the ending.

If you're a fan of this show, then you know we're coming down the home stretch (no "Pie-O-My" pun intended). One new episode in, eight to go.... So, I wanted to throw this theory out to any of you Soprano fans out there. Everyone is wondering -- how will it end?


I was starting with the premise that we have to look at is as -- How do we think the shows Creator David Chase would want it to end? I recall Chase in an interview a while back stating that even from the beginning he had his long range plan in mind - already at that time knowing how he wanted the show to conclude. It's also common knowledge that the show has many references to both "The Godfather" and "Goodfellas". Would he want it to end like The Godfather? With Tony slumping over in a chair, heart attack in his sleep? Nah, don't think so, even though one funny Godfather reference was Tony, when speaking to Artie Bucco after difficulties at Nuovo Vesuvio, telling Artie that he will eat there "until I fall off the chair," a reference to Michael Corleone's death at the end of "The Godfather Part III."

But I would suspect Chase is more of a Goodfellas guy.... So many cast members from Goodfellas are also in the Sopranos.... Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Melfi), Michael Imperioli (Christopher), Frank Vincent (Phil Leotardo) and a bunch of others with smaller roles in the movie. Maybe the best scene relating the Sopranos back to Goodfellas was this one........... Do you remember that Michael Imperioli had a role in Goodfellas as a bartender named Spider. He gets shot in the foot by Joe Pesci over a little thing like not getting Pesci's drink quickly enough... Later, in a Soprano's episode, Christopher shoots a bakery store cashier in the foot, then when asked why - says "It happens." A classic reference to the movie using the same actor - only on the other end of the gun.

OK, let's cut to the chase (not David). In this first episode they've brought up the RICO case angle to get Tony. I think that's where it's going..... Is it possible that the final will have the government getting Tony to "flip" (gee, I'm using Mob terms here) and rat out others and go into the Witness Protection program with his family?? That's what main character Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) did in Goodfellas. But, why would a true-blue mob guy like Tony take that route? Surely he hated those guys, right? Well, maybe his best buddies from his crew aren't around - could Silvio get whacked by New York? Some others have disappointed him in the past with their actions (e.g. Christopher & Paulie). Could they piss Tony off again? Maybe Phil and the New York crew have caused this and Tony testifying against them is a way of revenge, especially since he's arrested at that point anyway...

Again, just one person's theory and I'm probably taking a Bob Beamon leap to go this route, but Tony may also have to protect his loved ones, and this decision could be influenced by his family.

And I may be taking this too far.... maybe it's a subliminal message or hint from Chase, but remember at the end of Goodfellas, the final scene has Henry Hill - already then in the Witness Protection Program, stepping out of his front door in a white bath robe picking up his morning newspaper..... If I'm correct on this.... Haven't we seen Tony a few times in a white bath robe at the end of his driveway picking up his morning paper??

Hey, I'm probably totally off base, but I'll go on record with it..... And we'll find out on June 10. If you have any opinions or predictions yourself, feel free to leave them in the "comments" section...

Bada Bing!!!

HARV'S MIS-ADVENTURES AT CIVIL RIGHTS GAME

Ok, where to start.....

Harv arrived in Memphis last Saturday to represent the NPL in the first annual "Civil Rights Game."

On his way into the stadium, he got sidetracked......

A pre-game tailgate, complete with beer bong. Harv couldn't resist...

Then, at the tailgate, Harv hooks up with a hot chick........ ( You GO Harv!!)

And as Harv finally arrived at the stadium, he evidently forgot his mission. You see, Harv was supposed to be there to "celebrate" Civil Rights.

Instead, Harv thought he was there to "protest" against Civil Rights, and he caused a scene.

The rest is history.......

But not to worry, the Harv is back in town and he doesn't want to go to any more Civil Rights games.

TROPHY BOY PICTURES

Draft Night - March 30, 2007.

Opening ceremonies have the 2006 Chanmpion H-Bombs receiving their championship trophy prior to the start of the draft.

Will this picture soon be posted on the lunch-room bulletin board at the BMC?

And the official presentation.

photos courtesy of Bob Sproule studios.

FIRST FIVE DAYS in the NPL

Hey, first off.... how good have these last two weekends been? Last weekend we have the draft on Friday night, the NCAA semi-finals on Saturday, the ESPN baseball opener on Sunday and then Monday we get a group of MLB openers plus the March Madness final along with the Pirates opener in Houston.

Now, this weekend the big day is Sunday...... No, I'm not talking about the fact that it's Easter. It's the final day of the Masters and the first night of The Sopranos and Entourage on HBO, back-to-back. It doesn't get any better than Tony Soprano followed by Ari Gold.... Too bad they somehow couldn't get Omar Little and the boyz in the 'hood from The Wire squeezed in as well.......

Ok, let's move on to the first few days of NPL action.....

As of today (Friday morning) the ROCK CATS sit atop of the standings. Six STARTS have netted Five W's for the Raven, who is evidently satisfied with the early results. John's phone message to me on Wednesday stated that he doesn't mind, but "it's lonely at the top."

None other than your defending champ the baseball guru himself - the H-BOMBS, were on the doorstep as Miguel Cabrera was doing his best Albert Pujols imitation for Big Daddy.

Fresh off the Civil Rights Game disaster, the LOCKHORNS had a comment on the Pirates early season success, and the Bucs drafted in the NPL. Harv said.... "All you assholes who took Pirates left the best one still out there -Solomon Torres."
Thank you Harv.

Although the BULLDOGS are off to a pretty good start, there are whispers of dissension in the ranks of the Dogs... The Jaret Wright pick-up on draft night, which was a DL replacement pick, was evidently Eddie's pick, although it wasn't fully endorsed by Tony... After a terrible outing by Wright, Tony called to pull the trigger on dumping Wright.... A birdie down at the BMC reported that the conversation between the two went like this...........

EDDIE: "I guess looking back now, maybe we shouldn't have taken Jaret Wright."

TONY: "Yeah Eddie, and that's like Brittany saying -- In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have married K-Fed."




Hmmm, very interesting, but they should both be happy with Ben Sheets, don't ya think?
Let's continue......

The ALABAMA SLAMMERS must feel justified by the play of Grady Sizemore in those first three games, even though his com padre - Big Daddy was critical of the pick and the slide downward in round 1. But gee, does Al care about the opinion of the Baseball Guru?

Hey, here's an interesting point about the BRONX OWLS. If the Yanks get rained out, John is missing a big chunk of AT-BATS on those particular days. But, it all evens out in the end....

The BIG TRAIN mentioned we have the Quality Start stat to look at this year, due to what CBS Sportsline puts there to view. Coincidentally, The Train leads the league in "QS" with 6 (of his 7 starts) at this early stage, for what it's worth.

For the KOOPERSTOWN KIDS hitters... If Eric Byrnes continues to lead my team in batting points, I'm going to be in trouble!! But I was happy with the young man from Japtown.

The 69'ERS are happy with the early season production of Bad-Vlad Guerrero..... And the Niners get ready to have to move their company offices on his birthday weekend later this month. But, the bowling weekend in Altoona will follow.... It ain't all bad.....

And as the PITTSBURGH O's look to get the pitching staff wound up, Larry is basking in the glory of winning $190.00 in Al and Big Daddy's NCAA bracket pool. But don't mention this to Harv, he got edged out by 1 point to the O.

Well, we're off and running...... Back at ya soon......

--Kommish.