Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to report that his beloved Washington Nationals are still in first place in the NL East. Wow! 2-0. Since they have today off, the worst that can happen is a tie for first with the Mets. And we all know the Mets are chokers down the stretch… Well… At least they were last year…
Go Nats.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is pleased to report the following:
First in war. First in peace. First in the National League East bay-bee!
Woo hoo!
It is great to be on top of the NL East… If only for a day.
Go Nats!
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader saw this video over on Kevin’s site. It is awesome.
Looks like fun… If you are in the tank…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is sad this morning. He is, in fact, doubly sad.
First, his beloved Green Bay Packers just colapsed yesterday night on the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field. By the middle of the third quarter (around the time Smallholder called your Maximum Leader to discuss the game) your Maximum Leader was beginning to think that the Packers were beginning to unravel. By the middle of the fourth quarter your Maximum Leader was beginning to believe that the Giants were going to win. He had already started to think to himself that “there is always next year.”
Then the game went to overtime. When the Packers won the toss and elected to receive your Maximum Leader was elated. He foresaw another glorious victory akin to the one on the Monday night game earlier this year. (You remember the one when Farve threw the 60+ yard pass to win the game on the first play of OT vs Denver.) His hopes were raised…
Then Farve threw the interception.
Then the Giants kicked that damned field goal.
It was very sad.
But at least there is next year…
Secondly, Suzanne Pleshette, of Newhart fame, died yesterday at age 70. She died, apparently, of complications resulting from lung cancer. While your Maximum Leader is in his late 30s (near 40) he does fondly remember the Newhart show from re-runs. What does it say about a young kid that he liked Bob Newhart over the other comedies on TV? Anyhoo… Your Maximum Leader liked Newhart and Pleshette. May she rest in peace.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maixmum Leader is feeling funky today. Mrs Villain is feeling more funky today. Why? Hokie losing to the Jayhawks last night.
That sucked. It was a competitive game (overall). But really the Hokies beat themselves. Kansas scored most of their point off three turnovers. It was very disappointing.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is tired right now. He isn’t sure if it is his busy schedule, or the huge glasses of “fixed up” egg nog he’s been drinking…
Anyhoo…
Your Maximum Leader is preparing to sit down and watch the Hokies of Virginia Tech take on the Jayhawks of Kansas. He is rooting (along with his lovely wife - Mrs Villain - herself a Hokie) for the Hokies to really stick it to the Jayhawks. During the commericals he will likely switch over to Fox News and see what is going on in Iowa.
Then again, he might (during commercials) switch over to watch some other program. Afterall… He will be hearing about what went on in Iowa all day tomorrow. He’s afraid he might get burned out if he doesn’t pace himself.
Your Maximum Leader has been reading that Hillary might place third in Iowa (behind Obama and Edwards). Your Maximum Leader isn’t sure how that can be. He supposes that it must be some weird situation that exists only in Iowa. Some situation that deals with how people get to caucuses and how they actually decide to agree on a candidate at the caucus. Regardless, your Maximum Leader still will stick with his earlier predictions - Obama, Clinton, Edwards, and Richardson (on the Democratic side).
Your Maximum Leader still hasn’t decided whom to cast his lot with. Sadly, no one is too thrilling in his opinion. Of course, by the time Virginia gets around to voting, the race should be sewn up by one candidate on either side. That is the point at which Michael Bloomberg of New York will declare himself as an independent candidate for president. Then it will get a little more interesting. But only a little…
Anyhoo…
Your Maximum Leader will be spending most of his evening watching the Hokies…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader’s youth was one where he learned to love hockey. Indeed, hockey was the first sport he really followed. When he was a boy the Capitals were new in Washington. And they sucked. The Caps sucked so bad that your Maximum Leader’s mother was always able to get her company’s tickets to just about any game she wanted. We went to many hockey games. If your Maximum Leader’s memory serves, he went to games for about two seasons before he saw the Caps win a game (lots of losses and ties). At one point, your Maxmium Leader even purchased a partial season ticket game plan for the Caps.
He moved away from the area, but still watched what games he could on TV. Then he moved back to the (much greater) DC area and started to see a game from time to time in person (and watched on TV when he could). Then came the strike/lockout. He’s not seen a game live since before the lockout/strike. He’s watched a few on TV.
And that brings us to what he has been doing this afternoon.
Your Maximum Leader has been watching the NHL Winter Classic game. The game is a contest between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Buffalo Sabres. Frankly, your Maxmium Leader doesn’t much care for either of those teams. But your Maximum Leader really (really!) dislikes the Penguins. (The teams he dislikes the most go back to those early days for him. He cannot stand the New York Islanders, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New Jersey Devils, and the New York Rangers. He can’t abide one of those teams. In fact, he always (ALWAYS) roots against them. When they play each other he hopes for ties.)
For those of you not in the know about this game, it was played outdoors. Yes outdoors in Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo. (That is where the Bills play.) It was played during a lake effect snowstorm.
It was awesome! Totally kick-arse awesome. (Even if the Penguins won in a shootout.) Your Maximum Leader isn’t for abandoning the comfy stadia that hockey calls home. But he wouldn’t mind seeing a game or two in the elements every year.
Now your Maximum Leader is watching the Washington Capitals versus Ottawa Senators on the TV. It is a shootout. The score is 4-2 favoring Washington at the end of the first period. We’ll hope the Caps can hang on to win.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is still “vapor locked” as Joan mentioned in a comment on the last post. That is a very a propos way of phrasing it. Your Maximum Leader is just locked up and can’t seem to focus enough on a subject to write anything pithy. Somehow this condition doesn’t seem to have stopped him over the past few months when he was still able to write, although he was unable to be pithy. Perhaps your Maximum Leader’s conscience (such as it is) was bothering him. Bothering him to stop writing crap and start writing some good stuff…
Alas, this post will not be full of good stuff…
Last night your Maximum Leader didn’t think of anything to write, but he did do something fun. To wit this photo:
That is Gilbert Arenas (aka: Agent Zero) after passing the ball to Caron Butler late in the second quarter of the Washington Bullets’ eventual 103-90 win over the lackluster Indiana Pacers.
Yes. Your Maximum Leader is sitting on the floor. He was in the third row to be exact. Very close to the action. If your Maximum Leader does say so, those seats are the bomb. You have attendants coming to bring you drinks and food throughout the game (still at overpriced stadia rates plus tip - but you don’t have to mingle if you don’t want to). You have access to the VIP lounge under the stands and just off the floor for cocktails and snacks before, during, and after the game if you like. It is quite nice. You are so close that you can interact with the players (alas your Maximum Leader is not a big smack-talker so his comments were mostly encouraging his team on to victory). You are also close enough to see the cameltoe, boob-job scars, and caked makeup on the dance team. Sadly the dance team for the Bullets leaves much to be desired. Your Maximum Leader found precisely two of the roughly 15 girls on the team attractive - and one of those two was sorta marginal.
Before the game your Maximum Leader had a fine dinner at Matchbox. He recommends it to you all. Sadly, your Maximum Leader’s photo of another eating establishment didn’t turn out. It was a photo of the “New Big Wong” restaurant. “NBW” is right around the corner from the Verizon Center in what passes for Chinatown in Washington DC. This particular restaurant is the successor to “Big Wong” restaurant. As your Maximum Leader understands it, “BW” was the victim of a grease fire. “NBW” is the veritable phoenix rising from the spicy szechuan ashes of the old restaurant. It is a dive of an eatery - but with a name like “New Big Wong” it just has to be good…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has been watching lots of football recently. In the spirit of camraderie with other men (and some really smart and sexy women out there) he sits himself down in front of his big screen tv and watches football pregame shows, then football games, then football postgame shows, then night games. On Monday night, he tunes in to Monday Night Football (your Maximum Leader is a big fan of Tony Kornheiser by the way).
So today your Maximum Leader was thinking about the team of destiny yesterday. A team that has everything going for it. A team that is doing what it has to do to win games. A team that comes from behind. When the chips are down, the team of destiny doesn’t give up. They play to the end. And they have been winning.
This team of destiny wasn’t supposed to be as good as they are. They are putting together the pieces of a strong team. A team that should go far into the playoffs. A team that people can root for.
The team of destiny is, of course, the Green Bay Packers.
Who did you think your Maximum Leader was writing about?
Oh yeah… That other team… That team from New England… That team that will likely go undefeated this year and be the greatest team ever to play the game of football. Them.
Honestly, your Maximum Leader believes the Packers are playing above their ability. And that is great. He thinks that the Pack will have some trouble against Detroit (who is also playing above their ability). But the Pack should prevail against the Lions. Indeed, your Maximum Leader thinks that the Packers are the third best team in the NFC (after Dallas and the Giants). A case could be made for the Packers being the second best team in the NFC. But your Maximum Leader isn’t going to make that case…
Of course, no one is as good as the Patriots right now. They are like football Terminators. Just playing methodically and without emotion. Just going after every team like they are just another Sarah Connor in the phonebook…
Yikes…
Go Pack go! Go as far as you motivation, talent, and Brett Favre’s arm will carry you. I hope it is to the NFC championship game…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minoins. Your Maximum Leader extends his hearty congratulations to the Colorado Rockies and the city of Denver. The Rockies won the National League Pennant last night. Sadly, this occured after your Maximum Leader’s bed time so he had to watch the highlights on SportsCenter.
Your Maximum Leader is a National League type of guy and thus he will be rooting for the Rockies in the World Series. He wonders if the 9 day layoff the Rockies now get will impact them when the Series begins. He hopes they don’t decide to play any exhibition/practice games against any all-star teams like the 1946 Boston Red Sox did.
The Rockies 21-1 tear since September has been tremendous. It is one of the greatest team accomplishments your Maximum Leader has ever seen. He hope the Rockies can cap off their success by winning it all in the Series.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader spent yesterday relaxing. Well… Relaxing as much as it is possible for one to relax when watching football…
It was a good break. You see, Saturday was spent on Villainschloss work. To make a long story short… One of the hot water heaters in the Villainschloss ruptured. The rupture was caught early, so lots of damage was avoided. But, some water got into part of your Maximum Leader’s office and was soaked up by the rug. To be safe your Maximum Leader cut out the affected area of the rug. On Saturday, your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain (and to a limited extent, the Villainettes) moved all of the stuff out of your Maximum Leader’s office, took up the rest of the rug, put down new padding, laid new carpet, and returned everything to the office. Your Maximum Leader now knows he has roughly 900 books in his office alone. (Last time your Maximum Leader counted his - and Mrs Villain’s - books the total was over 2,500.)
Anyhoo…
After a grueling day of labor (the damned dwarves living under the Villainschloss were pretty friggin useless… and must be punished. By the way… if you click on that link, that post was authored by the Big Hominid, not your Maximum Leader. At some point when he moved from Blogspot to MT or from MT to Wordpress the authorship must have been switched.), it was good to sit around and watch some football.
At the risk of upsetting any Badger’s reading this post (in Asia or otherwise) your Maximum Leader’s beloved Packers are on the verge of disappointing him…
Why does your Maximum Leader write this? You may be saying to yourself, “Self, the Green Bay Packers are 5 and 1. Surely that must please my Maximum Leader.” Well, you bet your sweet bippy that a 5-1 record does please your Maximum Leader. But honestly, the Redskins were close (many times) to kicking some Packer butt. Of course, we all know that “close” only has real meaning when one is referring to hand grenades and thermonuclear weapons. But in football “close” means that you should look at the game carefully before bragging.
May your Maximum Leader blog frankly here? The Packers don’t have a running game. Teams that don’t have running games don’t win championships. (Yes, your Maximum Leader is old school in his steadfast belief that the running game is a key component to a championship team. Because running the ball is controlling the clock. When you control the pace of the game, you can dictate the actions of the other team.) Sure the Pack look like they can win the NFC North. They actually look as good or better than most of the teams in the NFC. But have you looked at the AFC recently?
The Packers need to work on their running game, and they need to work on routes that will open up their receivers. As the Redskins game showed, now that other teams in the league realize they can stop the Packers on the run without undue effort they can concentrate on the receivers. Driver, Franks, et al had a hard time getting open, and were well covered. Your Maximum Leader knows that it was wet and raining at Lambeau, but the Skins were doing a good job covering the Packer’s WR and TEs.
Your Maximum Leader wonders if the Pack are playing above their ability… He thinks that with some effort they can resolve these problems, but right now they are shakier than their record shows.
And in more football news… Have you seen those New England Patriots? If they keep playing like this your Maximum Leader will declare this team bound for the Super Bowl. If this team keeps playing the way they are, and wins a Super Bowl, they might be the greatest team to ever play the game. If there any way that you can stop the Pats? Shut down the run, and they can pass on you. Think you can shut down their passing game? Think again hoss. Tom Brady has the most competent receiving corps at his disposal. And he has the brains and vision to exploit every weapon he has. It is insane. Your Maximum Leader always thinks of Paul Hornung as the “Golden Boy.” (Hey! He was Lombardi’s Golden Boy.) But Tom Brady is giving old Paul a run for his money. Between his exploits on the field and his exploits off the field your Maximum Leader has to admire Tom Brady.
Your Maximum Leader wonders if any team can stop the Pats…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had a lovely time this weekend with his wonderful children. Well… To be honest, he had a lovely Saturday with his children. He sat on his duff and watched football all day yesterday. Saturday was a day for the kids and the zoo. Weather was great. Animals were outside and active. And the zoo was filled with parents and kids. (Excursus: there were some fine specimens of humanity available for viewing at the zoo. Not that your Maximum Leader would notice those things…)
Anyhoo…
Here is football question for you…
Which of these teams will be the first to chalk up a victory? The Saint Louis Rams. The Miami Dolphins. The Irish of Notre Dame.
Toughie isn’t it?
Your Maximum Leader thinks it will be the Rams. He doesn’t see many wins in the future of the Golden Domers… Or the Fins…
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader has watched about 45 minutes of NFL preseason football. He doesn’t get worked up about preseason football. Afterall, the games don’t count and the real stars of the game don’t play many downs. There doesn’t seem to be much point to the preseason…
Well… There isn’t much point to the NFL preseason unless you are the NFL and you are trying to squeeze every last dollar out of the pocket of your adoring fans. In that sense your Maximum Leader understands perfectly the rationale for televised (nationally televised) preseason games.
You know, from time to time sports junkies debate the efficacy of lengthening the NFL season. But one of the major arguments against such a move is the old favorite “the star players would get injured more and the games wouldn’t be as good.” Of course, it seems as though players get injured plenty in preseason. To wit: DJ Shockey, Jason Campbell, Ebenezer Ekuban, and others.
Your Maximum Leader doesn’t remember as many preseason games in the past as there seem to be this season, and last season frankly. He bets that there are more such games. He doesn’t see the point of them. In a way, they actually seem to run counter to one of the common formulations concerning the NFL. The formulation goes that the NFL is so widely popular because it is scarce compared to other sports. High demand, low supply. It seems as though hyping the preseason does nothing but increase supply and cheapen the games that matter.
Anyhow… Your Maximum Leader cheers out “Go Packers” and will now stop thinking about the NFL for a few more weeks.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader was, in the immortal words and tone of John McLaughlin, WRONG! Wrong in his prediction about Bonds and number 756. Bonds didn’t homer, but the Nats’ 6 game winning streak is over. So, 756 watch continues…
So… Just so you all know… Your Maximum Leader is making a new prediction! Here tis:
Barry Bonds will hit home run 756 tonight off Mike Bacsik in the first inning with two men aboard and one out. Bonds will hit the third pitch he sees. The ball will go to deep center field where it will take an odd bounce off the ground behind the wall and fly back onto the field of play. It is a home run, and Washington player Austin Kearns will have 756 in his glove at the end of the play. Kearns will walk to the Giants dugout and give the ball to Bonds. The Nats will then come back to win the game.
There you have it. If this unlikely senario comes true, your Maximum Leader should buy a lottery ticket. Of course, if it doesn’t come true, then he’ll have to think of something more unlikely for tomorrow.
Carry on.
Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is going to share some thoughts he’s having about baseball. (Hence the title of this post… This post is, in no way, connected to the very fine website of the same name.)
Insofar as your Maximum Leader is concerned, it has been a good weekend for the national pastime. The Nationals have swept both the Red and the Cardinals and are now (for the time being) over .500 at RFK. The Nats have been playing good ball. They have been making hits and generating runs the old fashioned way. They have not be relying on the long ball to give them all their scoring. Your Maximum Leader likes to see balls hit into play. This is not to say that he doesn’t like seeing home runs (he does), but he likes seeing men thinking about how to run the bases. Your Maximum Leader would like to see the Nats finish above the Marlins in the NL East. It could happen. He’ll keep his fingers crossed.
Speaking of the Nationals… You may have heard that they are on the road now. In San Francisco. For four games. This means two things… First, your Maximum Leader will not be able to watch or listen to the whole game. The games will end way past his bedtime. Secondly, it means that it is likely that Barry Bonds will hit his record-breaking 756th career home run against a Nationals pitcher (thereby making that pitcher a footnote to history).
Here is the prediction. Barry Bonds will hit home run 756 tonight off John Lannan in the first inning with one man aboard and two outs. Bonds will hit the fourth pitch served up to him out. The ball will be caught by a fan standing between the outfield and McCovey Cove.
You can’t get much more precise than that when it comes to predictions dear minions…
All in all, your Maximum Leader will be happy for Barry Bonds when he hits 756. While your Maximum Leader isn’t sure that the career home run record is the “most hallowed” of all sporting records — it is right up there near the top. (To be frank, your Maximum Leader is partial to Joe DiMaggio’s most consecutive games with a hit record.) Regardless of what Barry Bonds may, or may not, have done he is a great ball player and has worked hard to claim the record for himself. Your Maximum Leader will not rehash the whole “did he or didn’t he” use performance enhancing drugs debate here. If you care to know, your Maximum Leader believes that Bonds probably has used performance enhancing drugs during his later career. Your Maximum Leader also believes that people in our justice system are innocent until proven guilty. Your Maximum Leader further believes that major league baseball, as a business entity, doesn’t give a rats arse if players use performance enhancing drugs. Regardless about what we see and hear about nowadays with all these investigations, baseball would prefer the negative attention to go away and just let players keep on doing whatever they were doing before the spotlight came on. We all know chicks dig the long ball and everyone pays to see offense (not a pitching duel).
Your Maximum Leader would like to see a controlled study about performance enhancing drugs and how much performance they enhance. Barry Bonds was a 40/40 man before there was any thought that he might be “on the juice.” It takes skills and talent to be a good ball player. You could pump up your Maximum Leader with all the substances in the world, and you couldn’t make a ball player out of him. Your Maximum Leader is not wholly convinced that being on some banned substance will substantially improve performance across the board. Your Maximum Leader is sure that steroids or HGH will make one stronger, but he isn’t sure that it will improve hand-eye coordination or make it possible for someone to hit the ball better. Indeed, your Maximum Leader isn’t too sure if being stronger always helps you hit the ball further. Making quality contact is the best way to get a hit. Your Maximum Leader suspects, but wouldn’t mind seeing serious study on the subject, that performance enhancing drugs might only marginally increase one’s hitting numbers. He could, and quite possibly is, wrong on this. But that is his hunch. Frankly, your Maximum Leader thinks that if there is an incentive for players to take banned drugs it is to shorten recovery time and enable them to play through minor injuries…
Anyhoo…
Your Maximum Leader was pleased to see Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th homer. That is a good milestone. We can speculate all we want about how A-Rod might be the one to break Barry Bond’s homer record. Your Maximum Leader, a few years ago, would have told you that the home-run king of baseball by 2007 was going to be Ken Griffey Jr. So see where that idle speculation gets you.
Your Maximum Leader was most interested in Tom Glavine’s 300th victory. He watched the game intently. Normally, your Maximum Leader would be rooting for the Cubs to take the Mets down, but last night was an exception. Although your Maximum Leader hadn’t considered it until it happened, he is inclined to believe the many commentators who say that it could be decaded before we see another 300 game winner — if we see one at all. With more teams (practically all of them) counting pitches, having bigger bullpens, and more men in the starting rotations (your Maximum Leader believes that he will see 6 man starting rotations before he dies) it seems statistically unlikely that there will be another 300 game winner for a long time. Your Maximum Leader doesn’t see Randy Johnson getting into the 300 club. And Johnson would be the most likely candidate. Your Maximum Leader doffs his bejeweled floppy cap to Tom Glavine on a job well done…
Your Maximum Leader will be watching the Nats v. Giants tonight (in High Definition no doubt) for a while… We’ll see if his prediction comes true.
Carry on.
