John Elway, after living a full life, died.

When he got to Heaven, God was showed him around. They came to a modest little house with a faded Broncos flag in the window.

“This is yours for Eternity, John,” said God, “This is very special; not everyone gets a house up here.”

Elway did feel special, and walked excitedly up to his house. On his way up the porch, he noticed another house just around the corner. It was a three story mansion with a green and old sidewalk, a 50 foot tall flagpole with an enormous Packers logo flag, and in every window, a cheesehead.

John looked at God and said, “God, I’m not trying to be ungrateful, but I have a question. I was an all-pro QB, I won 2 Super Bowls, and I even went to the hall of fame.”

God said, “So what do you want to know, John?”

” Well, why does Brett Favre get a better house than me?”

God chuckled, and replied, “John, that’s not Brett Favre’s house — it’s mine!”

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader is positively brimming with topics on which he would like to opine. Alas, he is in Dee Cee attending to some other business with the bureaucrats at our very own United States Department of State. He has a little time at lunch on a WiFi connection and decided to make some baseball predictions. Here they are:

New York over Los Angeles (Angels) in 5 games
Boston over Chicago (White Sox) in 5 games
St. Louis over San Diego in 4 games
and the upset…

Atlanta over Houston in 5 games.

BTW, your Maximum Leader finished 2nd in the Lovely Annika’s fantasy baseball league. If he had bothered to trade one of his outstanding closers for a starter who could get some more wins he might have made it a little closer down the stretch… Ah well. (NB to Annika: Thanks for the invite. Your Maximum Leader would love to do it again next year.)

Carry on.

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader would like to point out that today is the 100th anniversary of Ty Cobb’s debut with the Detroit Tigers.

Cobb was a horrible man in so many ways, but he was a great ballplayer. While his skills on the field are no excuse for his behaviour off the field, his talents are undeniable. He is one of your Maximum Leader’s favourite ball players. Your Maximum Leader has one sports photo in the Villainschloss. It is of Ty Cobb going “spikes up” into Jimmy Austin at 3rd Base in 1909. That is one of (if not THE) greatest baseball action photo ever taken.

In case you were wondering… Cobb hit an 0-1 (or 0-2 depending on who you read) RBI double in his first at bat.

If you like there is an AP article on this very item a friend sent your Maximum Leader below the fold for your perusal…

Carry on.
(more…)

Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader had a very good time last night at the Nationals v. Dodgers contest. Alas, the hometown team lost to the visitors from LA 5-4. But it was a good contest all the way through. As is becoming the case with the Nationals, run generation is a problem.

It is likely that your Maximum Leader may attend another Nationals/Dodgers game tomorrow night. But time will tell.

Your Maximum Leader thought he might share with you some lines of conversation he overheard while at the game last night. He wrote these on the side of his scorecard…

“Jeff Kent… What a pussy.” (This was overheard immediately before Kent hit a lead-off home run for the Dodgers at the beginning of the 2nd inning.)

“So… Like… I want my boobs done but my mom won’t pay for it.”

“What do you mean you don’t have any fitted hats in red?”

“What sort of idiots can’t figure out how many hot dogs people eat at games? We are halfway through the season. You’d think that you would have caught a clue by now.” (This was said by the man standing in front of your Maximum Leader at a concessions stand in the middle of the 6th inning. Your Maximum Leader also wanted, but did not get, a hot dog. They did run out.)

“So do you think I’m overextended in blue-chips?”

And the first overheard quote that caused your Maximum Leader to think “only in Washington” would people talk about this at a baseball game…

“Come on! You’ve got to be kidding! Dean Rusk was one of the greatest Secretaries of State this century. I mean it goes George Marshall then Dean Rusk. I can’t believe you don’t see that!”

By the way… Your Maximum Leader believes he lost about 5 pounds last night. He sweated it out. It was damned hot.

Carry on.