Zito Rising

This is a special post written by The Colonel. 

One of the weird trends about the San Francisco Giants the past year has been the downfall of Tim Lincecum and the rise of Barry Zito. Everyone knows Zito's story. He was given a huge contract by the Giants in 2007, sucked, left off the playoff roster in 2010, injured most of the year in 2011 which gave way to Ryan Vogelsong's rise, and somehow made a comeback in 2012 besting Justin Verlander in game 1 of the World Series. Zito has continued to pitch well into 2012 and there has to be a reason for this, right? Well there is, he's mastered the art of the cut fastball.

I've always joked that a cut fastball is for pitchers that can't throw hard. It's one of the reasons why I always shake my head at Brian Wilson because he threw a cutter. A cutter should be thrown by someone who can't throw hard. Wilson could throw hard fastballs but still insisted on throwing a cutter.

Tuesdays With Noory

(Editor's Note: The Colonel is going to start writing more guest posts here starting today with Tuesdays with Noory)

When I was in college I was your typical student. I would go to class, work, party, and then pull all nighters to get my school work done. When I would do my school work I used to listen to Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell. If you're not familiar with that show it's the one that deals with conspiracy theories, aliens, Area 51, haunting, and everything your little heart can desire.

Bell eventually retired but this was after I left school. He was replaced by George Noory and the subject matter stayed the same. I'll listen to Coast to Coast AM every once in a while when I can't sleep. It's mostly just interviews with people calling in to offer their opinion on the subject but it's still can't be a compelling listen.

One of the people Noory interviews is Giorgio A. Tsoukalos. If you're not familiar with Tsoukalos he's that guy with the crazy hair that appears on the History Channel show 'Ancient Aliens'. Here's what I imagine what a conversation between Noory and Tsoukalos would sound like if they talked about sports on Coast to Coast AM.

Noory: Welcome to Coast to Coast AM. Tomorrow night we'll have a live chat with conspiracy theorist Markos Renalbi to talk about aliens and Area 51. Tonight though we welcome Giorgio A. Tsoukalos to talk about sports conspiracy's and sports aliens. Welcome Giorgio.

Giorgio: Thank you for having me on George. First off I want to say that aliens created sports Before Christ in Greece. They came out of the sky and said let's play some games. So they decided to start wrestling with each other and BAM! you have the first Olympic games.

Avoid The Bowls

The bowl season opens this Saturday. Don’t watch any of these exhibitions until New Year’s Day.

Avoid them completely. Send a message. No one other than the players & close relatives ever remember who wins these games anyway. Give you 3 seconds to guess the winner of the 2008 Humanitarian Bowl (the current Idaho Potato Bowl).

Admit it. You have no idea. And you have no clue about what a Beef O’Brady is, no intention of ever using R & L Carrier, or ever shopping at something called Belk. Just turn the games off and find something better to do with your Saturday, or with any other day leading up the BCS Championship Game. Avert your gaze away from the hypnotic trance that lord football (and gambling) tends to put on people and talk to your family, go shopping with your girlfriend, volunteer at the old folks home, or just do anything that doesn’t involve sitting down and speculating about the merits of the WAC vs. the MAC.

It used to be that the bowls were a great reward for only the top teams in the nation, and they would ride the train or jet off to such exotic locations as Pasadena, Dallas, New Orleans, or Miami; soak in some sun, hang out with cute girls, and maybe, just maybe settle the mythical National Championship. But, geeked up Chamber of Commerce types in other cities began to notice that maybe they could get a few dollars into their town and began to throw their own bowl parties. Some, like the Gator Bowl (Jacksonville) and Sun Bowl (El Paso) still thrive. But does anyone remember the Cherry Bowl (Detroit), Bluebonnet Bowl (Houston), or Freedom Bowl (Anaheim)? Of course, bowls are so lucrative that Detroit and Houston ended up with new games anyway.

Twenty years ago, there were still only 17 bowls. Only the very good teams ever received a bowl invite. New Year’s Day was the pinnacle of the college football season. Now there are 36, and average to below average teams are getting calls just to fill all the available slots. Bowl executive directors use this fact to play teams against one another to make sure that they don’t have to fork over the listed bowl “payout,” thereby increasing profits even when games are played in half empty stadiums; and ensuring they get to keep their cushy jobs. Why continue to enable this system just to watch North Carolina play Missouri in Shreveport? Just so bowl executive directors can make 6 figure salaries running these non-profits? So ESPN can have any excuse to fill up programming hours at a slow time in the sports calendar? How does any of this help the sport?

Send a message this weekend that you don’t want to watch the best regular season in sports culminate in a series of meaningless exhibitions. Change the channel instead of watching any of these games.

Follow me on Twitter @kt1000