Hello folks,

A quick stream of consciousness as I tend to Vinny here in the hospital.    Saying its been a long couple days is like saying the Bay of Pigs went smoothly 40 years ago.  It’s been hard and tough.    Look, the biggest anxiety and stress test for a parent is to see their kid in a state of pain, shock, or general “go fuck yourself” work state of mind.   It’s just not good.  There’s no pain meds or drink for this.  All one can do is trust the doctors and nurses around to curb the attitude, restore the mood and present a better future.    Vinny had his surgery today to fix his case of plyoric stenosis, a condition that causes the hole in his stomach that collects food to be so tiny that he wasn’t getting any food down or digested and instead vomiting it up like a sick kid.   Imagine eating and having no way of transformation below to break it down.   The muscle in the stomach is so strong when he tightened it the food came flying out of his mouth.   This is a common problem with new borns, as it affects 3 in every 1000 kids born and surgeries are done here at Childrens 3 to 4 times a week.   Still, this being the second visit for Vinny to the hospital in his young 2 month old life is too much for him or us to handle.    Every time my kid knocks down an obstacle in the ring, another problem steps in and wants to fight.   Watching nurses trying to put an IV in the kid’s arm qualifies as the worst experience a parent can go through.   He’s sitting there, looking at you like you just destroyed every bottle of formula in the world and now two nurses are poking his arm and stealing his go go juice.  NOT FAIR, DAD!  He leaves this incident with a decent incision on his chest, 2 cm wide, that will only score him instant cred at daycares.   Picturing Vinny walking up to a couple girls and saying, “Hey, lookee here ladies, my diapers full and(raising shirt) I got this as well.   Thats right, give me your daycare hours.”   The only true meds in life that don’t come in pill or liquid form is a good sense of humor.   Keep that healthy and you can survive anything.

Let’s rip into some topics today as the day slowly winds down into the evening.

Manny Pacquiao and Juan Marquez try to kill each other in Vegas

Right after sending you the Frazier-Ali Manila article, here are two more guys looking to seriously hurt one another.   This was the third fight in this epic series of welterweight pros, and Manny got the decision on a close majority decision.  While I didn’t watch this fight, I received texts from a good friend and followed it on ESPN mobile.   The conscensus was that each fighter could have left with the decision, but since Pac Man is champ and it takes a one sided beating to dethrone a champ, he left with the nod.   Every fight has been close between these two.  The reasons for that are left to be determined, but I chalk it up as two fiercely competitive old school fighters standing toe to toe in a ring and dishing out punishment.  Unlike most current boxers, Pacquiao and Marquez like to actually FIGHT in a ring and not dance, hold onto each other or continously butt heads while imitating combat.   These two love to hit each other because each is confident they are the better boxer.   The first fight in 2004 ended in a draw.  Both men beaten and bruised like soldiers of fortune left in a box to play.   The second fight, in 2008, went to Pacquiao in a decision Marquez thought was tilted in his direction.   The third fight last night, surprised me and convinced me that these two simply know how to fight each other.   No one has given this monster from the Phillipines as much trouble as Marquez.   Manny has dished aside bigger and stronger opponents with ease, coming out of the fight with a few bruises and a sense of humor and ready to play his afterparty concert.   Last night, he looked a little beaten up, slurred speech and hesitant.   Once again, Marquez had pushed him to the depths of defeat and Manny barely escaped with a win and a clean record in his last 15 fights.   The idea of the fight was simple.  Pacquiao kept coming with shots and pushing the action, while Marquez stood his ground and fired counter punches at will that landed flush on Manny’s face.   Deciding a winner depends on what you see as most important in a fight.   Energy, punches landed and pace or accuracy of punches.    Manny landed more and pushed the action while Marquez decided to sit back, return fire but give off the notion of a man deciding to not attack excessively.  A decisive 12th round where Pac Man challenged and landed big shots while Marquez laid back and let it go to the cards may have led to the close decision.    One judge had it a draw while one gave it to Manny 115-113 and another scored it 116-112.   The unofficial judge, HBO’s Howard Lederman, scored it 116-112 in favor of Pacquaio.  My friend had it scored at a draw but said either earned the decision and that it took a lot of unseat a champion.   There’s a secret layer of politics here as well.   All promoters, judges and fans need to know that the next fight in this town with Manny has to be with Floyd Mayweather Jr. and that only works with Manny getting a decision.  This isn’t me saying Manny unrightfully stole the decision.  The fight was so close you may have blinked and missed a tide turning blow but the two hit each other so frequently all night a decision came down to personal perspective and appeal.   I can’t wait to dive in and watch it this weekend when it encores on HBO.   Did Manny deserve to win or was his victory a finacial step towards Floyd’s epic battle?  I side initially with the former because reading the descriptions and recaps, Manny pressed the action, landed plenty and closed better.  Floyd fight or not, Pacquiao and Marquez will fight again because all commercial appeal aside, boxing needs more fights like this.   Brutal, bloody, close quartered slugfests that remind old school fans that it is still possible for a pair of men to stand in a ring and deal punishment.   Boxing is being defeated by Mixed Martial Arts because of skill sets but more importantly because the sport gives back revenue to its practice and delivers exciting if fleeting matches.  Fights like Pac Man and Marquez remind us that good boxing matches still exist.   Fierce reminders that boxing is a land of warriors and not a land of wimpy clutching dancing muscle bound athletes.   There’s science and command, but a healthy dose of “I need to beat you bad so I survive this night” mentality in there.  That’s Manny’s MO these days.   Get into the ring and deal because we didn’t train for 3 months to dance around in a ring and tap each other.   The intent in boxing has to be punishment and pain.   That produces real fights and pure entertainment.   The Pacquiao-Marquez trilogy of wars is the medicine that boxing needs.

Quick Takes on Cardinal Offseason Questions

*Mike Matheny will be named the new manager tonight or tomorrow.  I’m a big fan of this hiring because it makes sense for this franchise.  Matheny is a perfect choice for the new era and brings a true grit to the dugout.  Experience isn’t everything folks.  Respect counts. As Al Pacino said in Any Given Sunday, when those guys look into your eyes, they have to believe.  Matheny is a risk and a good choice for this team.  Now is the time to be risky.   Matheny represents a bold and risky choice for general manager John Mozelaik and owner Bill DeWitt III.   This is their first official hire and instead of going the safe and assured route with Francona, they may be looking towards putting their own stamp on the bench with a 41 year old ex catcher in Matheny.  This is Mo’s way of putting his own foot on franchise. The hiring of Matheny means brass balls on Mozelaik’s part, bringing a rookie manager to handle the baseball cathedral in St. Louis.   This team needed some new blood.   Risky blood.  Matheny doesn’t have 3 World Series but he played with Molina, Pujols and Carp and really connects with Duncan and Mozelaik.  Mozelaik didn’t make a crazy wild move here.  He made a measured one. Since La Russa called it in late August, Mo has been talking to Matheny for 3 months.   Matheny played for the Cards from 2000-2004, providing the Cards with a general behind the plate and the man who personally trained Yadi Molina to be a great young catcher.   Matheny was a leader of men on the field and is imminently respected inside the Cards clubhouse.   He has worked as an adviser to Mozelaik for a few years and waited for his chance to climb into the dugout.   He has zero experience as a coach or manager but I invite the unpredictable outlook as the suits here.  Matheny is a good, risky, cheaper yet easy choice.   You have to choose where you want to go after La Russa stepped down.   Stay with the assured vet or go with the risky rookie?  If sources hold up, the Cards are getting dirty and digging their feet into the future in hiring a veteran player to handle his first coaching job as manager of the Cardinals.   I like the choice because it’s bold and it also makes sense.  This team has won 2 championships in the past 10 years and will compete.  This is a team that doesn’t depend on its manager to win games each night.   Expect fireworks tomorrow.

*Thoughts on Albert and his choices.  My biggest case for Albert is I think he’s earned a long term deal to finish in STL. As my good friend Pj points out, every long term deal presents risk to a team.   The Cards or any other team will be overpaying Albert in the future to keep him here now.   It’s part of the deal and current frame work of MLB contracts.   With Albert, the idea of consistency should tromp plenty of the doubt.   It’s not hard to believe in a few years he will still be cranking 30 HR, 100 RBI and hitting .300.    If not, the Cards jump on the sword like any other team in signing Albert.  If any player has earned the right to name his price and home, it’s Albert.   I’ve always said it’s his choice but the Cards must present him with an offer that is respectable.   They can’t give him the bank but they can pay him handsomely for his service.  Anybody who whines I will sing the Bruce Hornsby classic to your ears.  “That’s just the way it is/some things just never change/that’s just the way it is.”   He’s played for 11 yrs at 16 or less and earned the security blanket. As far as where he lands, its his choice.  Does he want to become part of rebuilding mode in Florida?  He knows The Cards contend every year for a championship.  Which does he want?   Wins, cash or a challenge.  He gets all three here. I rest my case.

*If The Florida Marlins are smart, they will give their new cash to Jose Reyes and a starting pitcher.   It’s impossible to think expanding a budget by 23 million nets you 3 great players.   Instead of handing 23-28 million to Albert, the Marlins take a leap of faith with Reyes and sign a starting pitcher.  They need to correct several areas and first base isn’t one of them.   While Albert is a great marketing tool and fits in well in the Latin America packed Florida area, the Marlins can be smart here.   If only Reyes could stay healthy, he would be an unbeatable free agent.   Reyes gives you five tools in a big time star.   A starting shortstop with gold gloves to back up his reputation, a leadoff hitter with pop and the ability to hit .340 and a base stealing threat to get into scoring position.  He covers 2 vital positions on a team.   Shortstop and leadoff hitter.   All bias put aside, Florida would be smarter to lock down Reyes and sign a starting pitcher like C.J. Wilson to a long term deal.   Don’t throw big bucks at Mark Buerele, who is getting older and can’t win 15 games anymore.  Bring in C.J. Wilson and rework your rotation.  If the Marlins have 25-30 million to spare, use it on those two players.  They give you two strong players who are both younger than Pujols and suited for the rebuilding project down south.

*John Mozelaik told Joe Strauss that he likes a middle infield of Tyler Greene and Daniel Descalso.   While DD is dependable and gives you a small pop at the plate, Greene isn’t a major league shortstop.   Tyler Greene isn’t sharp enough defensively and can’t hit major league pitchers.   He is a career minor leaguer.  Greene gives you a late inning baserunning sub and nothing more in the majors.   Descalso is a more useable commodity as a utility player who can play third base, shortstop and second.   If Furcal can be brought back for 4-6 million, I’d think about bringing back Skip Schumacher for 1 to 2 million.  Why?  Skip is a hard working versatile player who has hit .280 or higher 3 out of the last 4 seasons.   A cheap weapon.   Keep Greene in the Memphis truck keeping the engine warm.

Blues Talk-The Hitchcock Era Unfolding??

Three games into the Blues run under new coach Ken Hitchcock, I am seeing the imprints of his style of play being injected into the Blues play.   The energy is higher and the player seem to be playing without a watchful fatherly eye.   Hitch is allowing his players to let it go and roll into their own rhythm.   T.J. Oshie is on fire in his past 5 games.  Barrett Jackman played one of his best games on Saturday.   David Backes is bringing it every night.   You don’t see Hitch shouting at players or looking stressed out like a 2008 placed accoutant looking at a ticker tape.   Hitch seems to be relaxed, laid back and enjoying himself.  He said he invited the return to coaching because he had found a calmer way of life in his time in the Columbus Blue Jackets office.  It shows behind the Blues bench.  Beating the Tampa Bay Lightning was a huge step towards showing consistency.   A very impressive win by Blues.   60 mins, 200 ft of play.   Shut down a very good offensive team in TB.  Team is full of energy.  Three strong games in front of Hitchcock represents a change.  See viable imprints of hard nosed high energy hockey.  2 shutouts and a shootout loss are signs of improvement for this team is zig zagging rogues.  Brian Elliot notched his second shutout and third for the team last night in the 3-0 win over the Lightning.  The Blues shut down a high scoring team last night, a favorably sign for their defense.  The penalty killing and power play unit, with exception of the first period on Thursday against the Maple Leafs, are looking very good.   Is this a coincidence or evident improvement under Hitchcock?   I’m withholding judgement until a few more games but I’ll say the new skipper is showing signs of turning this ship around.

The Rams Score An Ugly Win In Cleveland

Once again, this team makes an attempt to hand the game back to the opposing team.   The Rams led the Browns 10-9 for 20 minutes today before holding on for a 13-12 win that won’t be something to write home about.   Wins are wins in the NFL, but the Rams barely won and only escaped with a win because their defense played very well.  It would have been downright wrong for a team with a defense holding the opposing offense to a touchdown in 2 games to lose both contests.   Bradford looked rough all afternoon, showing an inefficiency to make passes in the red zone.   Steven Jackson went over 130 yards rushing and had his 3rd quality game in a row.   The Rams can’t play 4 quarters without losing a couple players.   Tight end Michael Houmaniiwaui hurt his knee and left in the 3rd quarter and the defense also lost a cornerback.   Injuries affect this team more than any other recent season and is a small clue to the reason we are 2-7 on the season.   Overall, this team isn’t a good team and doesn’t score enough.   We scored 1 touchdown against a defense which has been shredded by every other team.   Hard to win with this style of play but we managed to do it today.

Small NFL Tidbits-

*The Eagles and Ravens can’t be serious playoff threats.   The Eagles are 3-6 today after losing to the Arizona Cardinals, who are 3-6 as well.  The preseason Eagles, picked to win the Super Bowl before games were played, produced another downer of a game.   In part to DeSean Jackson missing the game due to missing a team meeting and being benched.  No discipline leads to losses.   The Ravens lost to the Taveras Jackson led Seahawks today, which has to end the talk of them being the AFC threats.   Joe Flacco will have a hard time leading this team anywhere if he can’t beat the Seahawks a week after beating Pittsburgh for the second time.   Which Ravens team shows up next week?

*The Patriots and Jets face off tonight and one has to like the Jets based on past history.   While Sanchez continues to think the other team is wearing a Jets jersey when he passes, the Jets play strong defense and finish well and always seem to surprise the Pats.  Tom Brady’s suddenly crumbling kingdom needs a win with a 5-3 record, so look for smashmouth football in Foxboro tonight.   Can Shawn Greene run over the Pats?  Can the Pats stop the running game?  Will Brady see another consistent pass rush?  All clues.  Having said this, the Pats will go on a tear and win by 36 points.

*The Saints beat the Falcons again by 7 points or less in game ending fashion.  Every season, Drew Brees figures out a way to beat Matt Ryan in the closing minutes.   One day, The Boston College product breaks through for a win.   Love the way these two teams battle each other.  I have always thought these two could play a helluva NFC title game.

*My dream match for the Super Bowl is The Patriots and Packers.   Tons of points put up on the board with two weak secondaries and two great QB’s firing on every cylinder.   I want an entertaining Super Bowl and it would inviting to see Brady, king of the old, face off against the new kid on the block in Rodgers.   I am not a fan of Brady but love to see him on high stakes matchups.   This would be a good game.

*The Steelers will go as far as their defense takes them.   Ben Roethlisberger is a great fourth quarter player and the running game is strong with Rasheed, but the defense carries this team.   I’d like to see a Patriots-Steelers AFC title game, which could also set up a Packers-Steelers rematch in a juicy Super Bowl.  This is the story of a Rams fan.   Predicting championship games without your home team.

*The Rams have the core pieces in place but need a new coach, a big receiver and more discipline play.   Red zone efficiency.   Bradford is the type of Super Bowl arm that is capable of playing at that level, but right now he can’t make the big throws that separate regular season QB’s from playoff heroes.   Steven Jackson is a quality running back and gaining great yards without a good passing game to back him up.   The receivers are anchored in B-types, which doesn’t produce big plays.  The Defense lacks a true secondary warrior but James Lauranitas and Chris Long anchor the front staff of the unit and have played well against big teams like Philly and Baltimore.  The Running game still gashes the Rams and their overall offensive attack doesn’t lack creativity(McDaniels calling good plays), but receivers aren’t catching and Bradford isn’t throwing great.   There are too many problems with this team for them to be playoff bound and that’s the exact opposite from earlier this season.   Expect a big offseason coming up for this team as Owner Stan Kroneke decides who stays and who goes.

The Random Bits

*If I could save the world, I would.   I would give my son Vincent a bottle right now that he isn’t supposed to have.   I would solve world peace.  I would provide water to all the deprived regions.  I would cancel interest rates on credit cards and hire henchmen to collect payments.   I would put a laundry mat inside bars so people could be productive and have fun.  “Hold that shot of Jack while I change over a load” is a phrase that would be fired at will.  I’d create more jobs by breaking more things.   I’d have people do more cardio and get in better shape.   I’d open a gym with their own isolated cardio rooms for people to concentrate and not get nervous around a packed room of machines.   I’d open more diners with healthier food.   Mix a courtesy diner with bread company?   I’d buy more albums and DVD’s for collections.    In a nutshell, I’d produce more original scripts in Hollywood instead of remakes.  I’d make the world a better place by having drivers retest every 20 years.   I’d create different energy sources so we could stop depending on oil loaded countries and electric car nonsense.   With time and money, I’d fix things. (Sorry, I had to include the political hunk ending)

*I respect Jeremy Renner because he has earned his status as a desired actor in Hollywood.  10 years ago, he was eating on 5 dollars a week in a tiny apartment with no electricity because he wanted to be an actor.  I appreciate actors who work hard for a craft and don’t give up on a dream.  Renner ate ramon noodles, doughnut holes and Mcdonalds cheeseburgers while living in LA with his bulldog.   There are harsher circumstances but Renner’s perserverance is impressive.   Now he is starring Mission Impossible 4, Hurt Locker, Avengers and more.

*One more thing on Matheny.  This moves was in the wings for a while and only slowed down when Francona and Sandberg entered the picture in late September.  La Russa informed Mo of his decision in late August, meaning there were talks between Mo and Matheny for 3 months.   Experience counts, but there are tons of managers out there with experience that are doing badly.   Sometimes, a dose of fresh blood is good for a franchise.   I like the Matheny deal for several reasons but mainly I like the boldness of the pick.   Proves Mo’s got balls of steel.

*Now that Robert Irvine has been eliminated off the Next Iron Chef, I am losing interest.   With cooking competitions(tougher than you think, how well can you cook under pressure and with judges and timers?), I have one favorite and when he dies off, I kind of stop watching.   Irvine is a British cook with real skill, but made a hummus too thick and lost a close 1 on 1 battle in Kitchen Stadium.   That’s how tough those competitions are.   Make the tiny error and lose it all.   That’s the challenge of skill on display on the Food Network.   Check it out before you knock it.

*While things are in dire straits with Vin this weekend, I do get to find comfort in my lullaby being a combo of HBO shows so potent that anyone can get a mood boost out of them.   Starting with Boardwalk Empire, continuing with Hung and ending with How to Make it in America.  2 hours of television that’s better than most movies.

Ending Thought-Vinny’s predicament should inspire all of us to redefine our thoughts of bad times.  In essence, don’t sweat the small stuff.   When you are done about something, remember what my kid has gone through before he was 2 months old.   Vinny was born a small baby, coming into this world undersized and ranking in the 2 percent range of newborns.   He was diagnosed with WPW, Wolf Parkinson White, an ailment causing SVT, and causing his heart rate to skyrocket.  Vinny’s been poked, prodded and given 2 throat tubes.   He was dealt a hand this week of plyoric stenosis, a condition that doesn’t allow food to be digested and has restricted him from gaining weight and getting a bottle for 48 hours.  My kid has had it rough very early so the next time you feel like life is closing in on you, remember Vinny.

That’s it.  Thanks for reading and goodnight.   My work here is done.

Sincerely,

D. Buffa

Greetings folks,

Allow me to roll a few topics over you as we pass over into another 24 hour set, what starts out as another weekend but may develop into something A LOT more interesting.   As My Morning Jacket’s latest gem of an album, Circuital, plays in the background, I start the domino chain.   One thing leads to another in this life, at least that’s the way it works in the mind.

Vinny Buffa Madness

For the last two weeks, the little guy has been throwing up, projectile style after every bottle and at any given time.  Bad news for parents here who only want to find dry land with their new kid.  Vincent battled SVT, got heart meds and is on the mend, but now runs into a potential GI tract problem that could result in surgery.   A muscle isn’t allowing food to digest through his throat into his stomach completely and forcing a reappearance instead of a deposit below.    It seems like every time my son knocks out a problem in the ring, some other thing steps into the ring to fight.   He keeps throwing punches.   Later this morning, we are taking him to Childrens for X rays and explanations.   Whether or not we come home is entirely up to someone else and its a scary thought to have to see my kid in a hospital bed again so soon.    The first 8 weeks have been grueling and all I can do is deal with the cards, take care of the wife and kid, and keep on breathing.   Start out the madness here with a little sadness.  Moving on.

Albert Pujols to Florida???

No way kids.  That’s my thought.  There are selling points for sure, but beyond a few more million, a new stadium, and a new start mid career what reasons are there for Albert to leave St. Louis for Florida.   Any spot other than Chicago can be sold to Albert because of payroll, chance to win or a icon status waiting in the wings.   Every one of those things can be found in St. Louis if Albert chooses to stay.   When presented with a case for Albert in Florida, I listened, read the info and thought it through only to come back to the same conclusion.   There’s no real reason for Albert Pujols to leave St. Louis if he keeps his word that has been spoken his entire career.   That it’s not ALL about money.   I’ll be straight with you.  Since they waited until 2011 to present a viable offer, the Cards can’t match another team’s offer and will get outbid by at least 2 teams here.  That’s why I said it comes down to Albert in the end making a decision.   Get past the visits, offers, agent dealings and money, and it comes down to Albert asking himself does he want to be the iconic player who spends his entire career in one city, wins 2-4 World Series titles and retiring a king.   Lets look at the prospects in Miami.   Florida makes sense.  They open a new stadium in 2012(home opener against Cards), need a face of the franchise and can restock their team around Albert.  No pressure to win for a few yrs and more money. However, does Albert want to lose for a few yrs for more cash.  Does he want to sacrifice what he loves most, winning, for a new start?  Soon enough he may be the person of blame if they don’t win.  As Jayson Stark said, if Albert goes somewhere and declines, the media pressure will be overwhelming.  If he stays in his kingdom in St louis with a challenge to add rings, he can decline peacefully.  Unless the Marlins add Pujols, Jose Reyes and a pitcher, its going to be hard to think of them challenging for the NL pennant in 2012.   Does Albert want to take a backseat to mad man title chasing to be the older mentor to young guns and sit beside Ozzie Guillen, who makes the Don Tony ways seem like Mary Poppins routines?   This extends beyond money folks.   Pujols is the one athlete I believe because he is consistent with his words.  He hates contract talks but loves St Louis and want to compete for a championship.  His status in St. Louis(one man, one team, one career) and the fact the Cards will compete next year for a world series makes this possible situation in Florida not work.   Look, I am not saying it can’t happen or won’t happen.  I am telling you I doubt it.   Call it denial or bias sitting and I will take your bet and double down.   Albert Pujols will be a Cardinal in 2012.   You heard it here first.  I don’t need to think twice about it, but I will field opinions on it all night.   I love hearing two sides battle in public about it.   Tonight, searching for a movie at Blockbuster, I overheard two sides discussing it.  Classic fight going on.  One for a golden deal and one against it.

Side 1-“The best player in baseball deserves the best contract in baseball.  That’s it.”

Side 2-“Come on.  He is a great player but why do we have to pay him more money.   Why do players need more than 5 million to play baseball?”

Side 2 was clearly lost and found there.   I came to the register and set the record straight.   I told them if the Cards were smart, they would have handed Pujols and Holliday 8 year contracts in 2010 but now have to pay more money.   They chose the hard way and Albert didn’t make it easy.  I easily shut the crowd down there.  Too bad I walked out with the absolutely horrible Pirates of the Caribbean 4 blu ray disc.   Cover tells all.  We made it halfway through and started skipping scenes.  Always a bad sign.

As is the case with anything in life, Albert’s destination comes down to choice.   Pure and simple.  Choice by team and player.

Cards Manager Search

The more I think about it, I really do see Terry Francona not landing in St. Louis and instead one of the other 5 candidates with zero managerial experience in the major leagues taking over the skipper role.  I have no problem with this as long as Joe McEwing doesn’t make it into the dugout.   While the popular vote is Jose Oquendo, I think it may come down to Ryne Sandberg or Mike Matheny.   Matheny has the edge there.   He played here with some of the current Cardinals from 2000-2004, was instrumental in leading the clubhouse, mentored Yadi Molina, gets along great with Dave Duncan and has worked as a special assistant to John Mozelaik for the past couple years.    He has waited to get into coaching until the right time and this could be the time.   It’s just the way I think this team is leaning.   I like Francona and Oquendo, but the popular idea right now is going in a new direction.   For me, this search boils down to one choice by Mo and DeWitt Jr..   Do they want to hire a replica of La Russa or go for the far riskier choice of a zero experience yet highly respected and tenured newcomer?   Sign the older skipper with experience, wins under his belt and a reputation or leap for the rookie manager with balls of steel like Matheny, who is a so called “leader of men”?   For me, thats the question.   This is a defining moment for the franchise.   The chance for Mozelaik and DeWitt Jr. to make their own splash and hire “their guy”.   They have both worked with a manager who was here before them in La Russa for 16 seasons.   Now is their chance to set the future in motion.   The more I dissect the interview comments and search, the more I come to a realization that Mo will want to take a risk here, hire a rookie and set him in motion.  Will Sandberg, Matheny or Oquendo be able to handle the everyday stress of a 162 season of ups and downs?  If the team loses, the new guy gets blamed, as Bernie Miklasz wrote in his Thursday column.   I’m up for the challenge if the Cards are.  This team is built to win and won’t live or die on the experience of their manager.

Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez Final Thoughts

For me, it’s an easy choice here.  Manny will clobber Marquez and finish off this trilogy the right way.  Manny is a much better fighter than he was 3 years ago, has made a career of fighting bigger men and pounding them(Margarito, Cotto, Mosley) and will dispose of his old rival.   Manny has proven to be able to take a punch and deliver 3 right back.   A ferocious counter punching machine who doesn’t tire as the rounds roll by.   You don’t win titles in 8 different weight classes by taking easy fights.   Pacquiao is more determined to beat Marquez so he can shut the slower fighter up once and for all for 3 years of telling people he really beat Manny Pacquiao.   Tonight, the record gets set straight.   Consider this another warmup before Pac Man finally gets Floyd Mayweather Jr. into the ring.   The brutal calm before the storm.   Tonight, Manny Pacquaio doesn’t need to make history.  He’ll just take care of business.  Remember this as well.  When Manny fought Juan in the past, all he had was a powerful left hook.  Now, Manny has a well rounded arsenal of left and right bombs.  More weapons to use.

“Prayer is how the mind communicates with the soul.   Fighting is how their souls communicate with the world.”-HBO 24/7 Narrator Liev Schrieber

DVD Review-13

That’s right, folks.  The name of the movie is 13, adapted from a European smash hit called 13 Tzameti, a story about underground russian roulette.    The cast here is bare knuckle gritty, including Jason Statham, Ray Winestone, Alexander Saarsgard, Michael Shannon, Mickey Rourke, 50 Cent, and Sam Riley.   All are either players in the game, gamblers or spectators.   The heart of the story revolves around Vincent(Riley), a young man trying to make money for his dad, recovering from cancer in the hospital.    When a client of his dies unexpectedly, he takes the man’s mysterious envelope of cash and directions and ends up in an underground kill to the death tournament in New York City.    The players form a circle and point the barrel at each others heads and pull the trigger.   Things start with one bullet in a 6 chamber gun and are increased up to 4 by the end.   What happens to Riley’s well intentioned young man’s plot?  The thrill is in the hunt here, and all the actors get a chance to shine, including Statham, playing second fiddle here to Riley and Winestone.  The pace is decent, the direction is solid, and the end isn’t predictable.   Watch and enjoy.  A quiet good indie.   Nobody flexes their acting chops here but the job gets done.

Jonathon Papelbon Goes to Philly

I saw this move coming 2 months ago when I watched Paps pitching in a game late for a save.   Rumors were spreading about the Sox being unable to give him the money he desired and that the door was opening for their closer of 6 years.   I really like Paps.  He’s a very good closer and carries all the elements of a closer.   He’s intense, focused, carries the blame if things go sour and always come back with a vengeance.  Take out a subpar 2010 season and Paps put together 5 very good seasons in Boston.   Is he worth 4 years and 50 million dollars?   No.   The annual value of 12.5 million is a little high for a 30 year old who has seen his best days and will have trouble in the homer friendly confines of Citizens Park.   Paps is great and will do fine but any reliever 30 or over getting a 4 year deal with a vesting option for a 5th season is a reach.    It’s going to be cool to see him against the Cards and have the chance to go against him in key spots, but the contract is high, especially for a team looking for an early replacement at first for the injured Ryan Howard and having to resign Jimmy Rollins.   He has 219 saves in 6 seasons and pitched well in the fiery AL East firing line, but he will struggle at first in Philly.   Personally, while I saw it coming, I found it to be surprising to not see Paps finish in Boston.   He moves from one hot contending team with something to prove to another.   Cue the K-Rod to Boston rumors right now.

The Most Retarded Riot Of All Time

Ladies and gentlemen, here is our generation.   Wednesday night, after Joe Paterno was fired, Penn State football fans roamed the streets, jumped on top of cars, held signs and cheered for their Joe.    Human beings with blood running through their veins were screaming at Penn State officials to reinstate Paterno and give him his job back.   The only thing they forgot was Paterno was rightfully fired for overlooking, bypassing or failing to recognize  a sexual offender on his coaching staff.   Paterno probably didn’t take it serious and hoped it owuld end.  Instead, the worst happened.   Assistant coach Jerry Sandusky molested 15 young boys during the past 10 years and Paterno did nothing.   So his faithful fans chose to take their fight to the streets, all the while forgetting about those 15 kids.   This is where sports fans overlook human horrors for the love of their game.  Its sickening and horribly out of place.   What if one of the parents of the 15 children walked up this crowd and asked them what the fuck they were thinking?   What happens next?  That parent gets a bottle to the head or a Paterno standee up his or her ass?  Look at what this world we live in has come to.   Angry fans whining about their head coach getting canned for overlooking sexual molestation.   Absolutely absurd and painful to watch.

That’s all for tonight.   Sleep tight, dream something nice, and wake up ready to attack reality.   My day starts early tomorrow so I am finally calling it a night as my second wind comes to an end here.

Thanks for reading,

D.L.B.

Topics of Persuasion

November 10^th, 2011

Everybody here?  Fuck it, I’m going anyway.   Read up, follow along, stay with me and while you may not learn something, you may at least be entertained by the sight of thought process.

Blues Revival??

• A sense of a new form of hockey on the ice.  The birth of the Hitchcock system, which consists of letting the boys be boys and let their own individual talents evolve on the ice.
• On Tuesday, the Blues played the most complete hockey game all season.  A strong 60 minutes.
• Power Play revamped.  Better passing, execution and capped off with a fabulously placed Oshie pass to the tip of Stewie’s blade.
• An emotional tribute set the stage for a comeback night.  Keith Tkachuk and Brett Hull delivering beautiful memorial speeches about the fallen 38’s, Igor Koralev and Pavol Demitra.  The Blues alumni have always come out and supported one another during times of celebration(retiring Hull’s number) or times of tragedy.  Talking about a young fallen comrade is never a good reason for coming into town, but Hull and Tkachuk are class acts and delivered.
• Jaroslav Halak had a complete game, stopping 28 shots and collecting his 17^th career shutout.  The play of Halak will mirror this entire season and determine where this team goes.  During the first 13 games, Halak’s save percentage was 85 percent.  Horrible.  Win/loss record and play in front of him withstanding, the Slovakian stopper needed to improve and against the Blues rival and main enemy in the Central Division, Halak came up big.
• Huge win over the rival always helps a situation.  The Blues are a 7-7 team with 4 big games at home ahead.
• Blues Revival Continued- 
  • The only way Tuesday’s win sticks is if the Blues can win at least 3 of the next 4 games at home against Toronto, Detroit and Florida.   Every team wants to play hard for a new coach during their first game.  The next few games tells the story.
  • Ryan Reaves also delivered on Tuesday.  Nothing like a good old fashioned ass kicking to fire up his team and help the Blues pull away.   Reaves pounded Dario Carcillo.   4 right hands to the head and a take down to stamp it.  Reaves is the new Blues enforcer.
  • This was a game that had something for everyone in the audience.   Good, quick paced hockey action and an all around team game.   Players working together, creating plays, getting results.   Pretty.
  • The Blues scored 3 well executed goals.  There were no gimme or weak goals.  They scored the first on an excellent crash of the net by Vladamir Sobotka.   The second came on the Oshie/Stewart tip.  Oshie finished off the scoring with a wrist shot in the third period to put the game away with a few minutes left.
  • If Davis Payne left a stamp, it lies on Oshie’s head.   In the last 3 games, Oshie has 3 goals and 2 assists and is back to playing his old brand of smash mouth hockey.   He happens to be trade bait, so his good play works on both ends for the Blues.
  • All in all, the Blues looked in control on the ice.   Authoriative.  That has been missing along with horrible special teams play, inconsistent offense and bad goaltending from #41.  Tuesday was a good night.
  • Can it continue tonight against Toronto?  Will we notice the Hitchcock stamp 2 days later?

  Cardinals Manager Search Thoughts-

  • Nearly 2 weeks after Tony stepped down, the interviews are done.   Chris Mahoney, Joe McEwing, Mike Matheny, Ryne Sandberg, Jose Oquendo and Terry Francona were given a look an interview.   While the safe and smart pick is Francona, I have a feeling in my stomach that tells me he won’t be among the finalists.  Here’s why.  Reading reports from STL Cards beat writer Joe Strauss, the order of the top 3 aren’t the popular picks from last week.
  • The top 2 last week were Francona and Oquendo in my opinion. Before the interviews started rolling in.  However, my wild cards right now are Sandberg and Matheny.   It would be the ultimate smack in the face to the Cubs to have Sandberg come here and win a World Series title.   He has managed in the Phillies minor league system and is a great baseball mind.  Look at him as a surprise pick.   This is a success ready team, so any of the top 3 work.  Sandberg or Oquendo would be cheaper than Tito.  By about 2 million.  Matheny has stayed in the Cardinals organization as a consultant and assistant to the GM.   There are connections there.
  • It all comes down to what direction the Cards front office wants to go with this new era of managerial action in the dugout.  Terry Francona is a solid choice and carries the pedigree, experience and success required, but he isn’t a done deal.   There are other factors.   Factors that give Mike Matheny and Oquendo an edge.   Dave Duncan has worked with Matheny and Oquendo in the past and likes them.   There’s a history there and comfortable alliance.  Oquendo is respected by the entire franchise and team, but Sandberg was the first person the Cards inquired about.  He is a wild card choice for the job and while his past speaks against a chance at managing here, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got the job because he is the type of manager Mozelaik may surprise us with.    Playing it safe is Francona.  Taking a shot is Oquendo.   Breaking open the creativity bank is going with Sandberg or Matheny.

  The Fall of Joe Paterno at Penn State Rant

  There are several factors here, so let me just start firing in a familiar area.   Family ties.   Every university is a like a family, as are companies, households and teams.  Every part of the family play a role in keeping things honest, honorable and straight.   If one person steps out of line, no matter their stature or position, they have to be cut away.   Those are the rules.  All families involve degrees of power, emotion, deception and corruption.   Unequal doses hurt families and break them up.   When Joe Paterno and fellow Penn State officials overlooked Jerry Sandusky’s 2002 warning of eventual sexual molestation of young boys, they made a fatal error.   An error that broke the university in half this week.   This blow extended outside the football program and into the university’s DNA.   The aftermath has left Paterno fired, the President fired and a potential BCS Bowl team in disarray. Assistant coach Sandusky was charged with 15 counts of sexual molestation this week and the aftershocks are plenty.  Here are some smaller details and thoughts. Penn State board did the right thing in firing Paterno.   Whether you are a football fan or not, you know the name of Joe Paterno.   61 years in college football, 46 as Penn State Head Coach, 2 national championships in 1982 and 1986 and 409 all time wins.  The model of consistency.   Now, he is gone and it was the right move.   Paterno isn’t evil. Let me be straight here.  He made a critical error in judgment.  Sandusky’s behavior had warning signs written all over them and Paterno and his staff missed them or overlooked them.   This is a classic coverup.   Think of Paterno as a failed humanitarian auditor of ethics.   This was a oversight that led to the turmoil and added a shade of gray to a hall of fame career.   Whenever his name is mentioned now, it will come with a dirty asterisk.  This was the only way Penn State could act.   They had to fire Paterno because that is the fastest way to get past a scandal.   Erase the negative parties quick and save face.  Letting Paterno call his own exit would have looked weak and cued the media wolves.   This was the right move.

  Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The Greatest injustice is no justice at all.”   Joe Paterno and fellow guilty parties had to be brought to justice because they committed the worst error in life.   Overlook a horrible crime.

A Prince and A King

Two of the biggest players in baseball, Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder, go on the market this offseason and the only thing that can be promised is they will be filthy rich when it’s all said and done.  That’s the point where I can’t get too worked up on these two players.  When spring training hits, they will have a deal somewhere, making 25 million a year and comfortable for the next few years.   They could buy a Mercedes once a week and be fine.   It’s hard to worry too much about it.  However, here are things I think will happen.   Prince is definitely leaving Milwaukee and I think the top spots are the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs.  Fielder will command 23-25 million per year and grab at least 5 years and maybe 7.   He is young, productive, and the only major leaguer to play all 162 games last season.   Albert is the king here, though.   He will receiver offers of 28 to 30 million for up to 10 years.   The takers will be the same.  Basically, anyone who needs a lifeline or first basemen.   The Florida Marlins will look at him, as will the Rangers, Dodgers and Cubs.   If I had money to wager, serious green, I’d still say he takes less to play in St. Louis because as Jayson Stark pointed out today in his column, there’s the thing that money can’t buy.   Comfortable positioning.   Rather or not he declines, Albert will remain king in St. Louis.   While it is interesting why Bill DeWitt Jr. and John Mozelaik haven’t made a serious run at Albert and opted to sign Matt Holliday 2 years ago(however, Matt was a free agent as well and a hot commodity), Albert owns this town and I can’t see him leaving it for a couple more years or a few more million dollars.   Albert deserves a raise and a comfy future landing.   Give him a piece of the team or profit.   Give him 8 years because the man earned it the right to have a chance to live long here and eventually come down to earth in productivity.   Scott Boras can sell Prince all he wants, but we all know what Cecil Fielder did after his 27th birthday.  He never hit 40 home runs again and declined rapidly.   Prince can’t play defense or bring the marketing to a town like Albert can in St. Louis.   Albert is a more complete and productive player.   Let’s see if Prince can perform like Albert for 5 more seasons.  I mean the complete statistical areas.   On base percentage, batting average, game winning hits, hitting with runners in scoring position and extra base hits.    If people think Albert is 35 and not 31, his 11 years of productive is even more astonishing and impressive.   The point is Prince is a great player, but Albert is the best player in baseball.  The marketing dream and complete player.  He is king.  King’s deserve a decent ransom to hand over their talent.  The Cards will hand it over to Albert or face the scorn of a city.   Pujols gets to choose where he lands, but if the Cards lowball him or look away as he leans to come back, I will place full blame on the ownership.   Once again, I will repeat, you don’t let gold walk away.  This is a two sided deal.   If Albert and the Cards know what money smells like years from now and how it looks from the comfort of their own home, they will work it out. Albert knows it.   DeWitt knows it.  Dan Lozano knows it.   Good luck to Prince.  I look forward to seeing him in white and blue stripes.

Middle Men Review

Jack Harris(narrating)-“If I learned one thing, it’s that business is a lot like sex.   Getting in is easy.  Pulling out is hard.”

This is a great movie.   Highly entertaining and fast paced with a relatively potent story.   This is the story of Jack Harris(played with ease, cool and authority by the better of the Wilson half, Luke Wilson), who helps two morons(Gabriel Macht and Gio Ribisi) bring porn to the internet and make a profit out of it.    Harris is a born problem solver, and when he hears about two guys with a way to do things but zero idea how to manage things are making waves in LA and pulling in millions, he goes out to the land of opportunity and becomes their middle man.   This is an easy story to digest and a cool film to enjoy because it talks about desperate truth in this life.   Porn pulls in 57 billion dollars a year, and the fact is when NASA launches satellites into the air, the only idea in their mind is to plant those things in the right spot for Billy Bob to be able to access his porn site whenever he feels the need to jerk off.   That’s right.   Harris and his cronies help people jerk off.   They made a living out of it and they nearly all died as a result of it.    You may of missed this movie in theaters because it couldn’t turn its own profit and got the indie dumping in NY and LA.   Since Adam Sandler isn’t playing a woman in it, the movie couldn’t reach 1500 screens and instead got 650, a DVD release and a happy shelf to land on.   Wilson is the star of the show and gives a great performance in a film one has to seek out.   Great stories still need great big stars to exploit them.  If Wilson was playing J. Edgar Hoover and George Gallo(director of Middle Men) was doing it, the movie wouldn’t be released in November on 3,000 screens.   The idea is, Middle Men is a proud indie gem and I am here to tell you, it’s worth picking up.   Gallo keeps things moving here and the characters seem to spin around in place.  The events are loosely based on real events, but the story adds a decent amount of “holy shit high stakes action” to the mix.   Toss in a dangerous Russian mobster(Rade Shebergia) into the porn profit pot and things get dicey.   Throw in a shady lawyer Jerry(James Caan) capable of getting greedy and stealing the show and things get worse.   This is a story equally covered in power, profit and denial.   Harris is a good man but he is caught up in a bad situation.   A man with a wife and kids at home in Houston is playing deadly games in Vegas with 2 wired druggies, a Russian killer and a corrupt businessman.  How do things end up?  The film wraps things up quite nice and brutal, and it doesn’t ask for your forgiveness.   The entertaining aspect comes in the loose cannon performance of Wilson, the assured direction of Gallo, and a hip soundtrack including the Rolling Stones.   This film moves at the pace of a bullet and also scores the unusual point of carrying good narration.  Wilson is a calm relaxed actor and it helps as Jack recounts the story of his Vegas/LA plunge to us.   The supporting cast is aces, including Terry Crews, Kevin Pollak, Robert Forster, Jacinda Barrett and Kelsey Grammar.   A film about the universal rule of business.   Making money isn’t easy, and even when it’s going well, a shotgun blast is waiting around the corner.

Finishing Touches-

• Katey Segal can act.   If there is one actor on Sons of Anarchy capable of taking over the show, it’s Segal.   She is the best on the talented cast.   She is the woman deserving of an Emmy or two for her work.  The gift of Segal is combining stress, emotion, power, vulnerability, and action into one scene.  Playing Gemma, the biker wife of the leader of the Sons club, the role carries a “Lady Macbeth” feeling to it.   This is classic shakespearian drama and tragedy.   This week’s episode had her sitting at a table, beaten and bruised but defiantly pledging revenge by season’s end.  Segal, a TV vet most known for Married With Children, powers the scene and adds juice to the performance.   You believer her worn down, beaten, yet still beautiful face when she says the words.   That’s what actings all about.  Believing these real people inside these characters.  She gives a golden performance, one that starts from the outside and fights its way out.   Sons of Anarchy is so good because the entire appeal of the show centers around caring for these criminals even as they do bad things like run guns and sell drugs and kill mercifully.   Likeable monsters work here.   Monsters Inc. for the Criminally Insane.  Segal is the golden queen here.   She can act.
• Correction From My Blog on Tuesday-The screenwriter of J. Edgar is Dustin Lance Black, not Eric Roth.   Black wrote the award winning MILK, about Harvey Milk, the first gay man to be elected to political office in San Francisco.  A raw gritty subject area that Black once again immerses himself inside in Clint Eastwood’s bio epic.
• David Freese is everywhere.   Starting on Jay Leno, moving on to the View and Ellen, rolling in last night at the Country Music Awards, and will soon arrive on a ABC sitcom in a guest spot.   Freese, the NLCS and WS MVP, is all over the place and it’s weird and cool.    When did Freese turn into Peyton Manning?  Exactly when he delivered the most clutch hit in World Series history.   Down to his last strike in the World Series, Freese delivered and become a superstar on the circuit since then.  Expectations are enormous next season but for now, Freese can enjoy it.  It’s not even been 3 weeks since the Cards won the series.
• Andre Berto and Victor Ortiz dueling inside a ring for the second time is an intriguing fight, as long as Ortiz keeps his gloves up and protects himself.    Ortiz won the first fight, surviving 2 knockdowns and a grueling 12 round fight to hand Berto his first loss and earn him the right to face Floyd Mayweather Jr., who then knocked Ortiz out when the kid let his hands come down in Round 4.   Berto wants revenge and Ortiz once again fights for respect.   Book it.
• The Changeup, in my opinion the funniest movie of the year, comes out on DVD this week.   The key to this film’s greatness.   Turning an old formula(body switching to improve souls routine) into a raunchy, well written, fast moving rocket fuel comedy starring the dream team, Jason Batemen and Ryan Reynolds.  The two play best friends who live opposite lives of family man and slacker.   One night, it changes.   Hilarity ensues.   Rent this film.    Very funny.
• Conray Murray knew what he was doing when Michael Jackson demanded the lethal dose of drugs.   His client begged for his “milk” and Murray gave it to him, killing him.   When the king of pop was training for his ridiculous 50 show set in London, his body took a beating and the only way to help a 50 year old recover from brtual workouts are illegal drugs.   Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter because he bypassed judgement and gave Jackson the killshot.   Is he evil?  No way.  Stupid? A little.   Doomed for life?  Yes sir.
• Do the Rams suck?  Yes.  Very much.  They are outscored in point differential by 111 points.   Their QB wonder only has 4 touchdowns and is getting killed behind a bad offensive line.  The Rams allow one defensive score per game.   Their special teams play is bad.  Their run defense is horrible.  They committ too many penalties.  They can’t score touchdowns.   Their secondary is weak and they have no legit #1 receiver.   Also, injuries have taken a toll, but that’s the same of every NFL team.   The Rams are 1-7 and have a decent chance of finishing 3-13.   Yes, they suck.
• Tim Tebow excelling at the option play is no surprise.  He became a college legend at Florida using the same powerful offensive tactic.   The option play involves three choices.   Throw downfield, toss it to a running back or run the ball yourself.  Tebow tore up the Oakland Raiders last weekend by springing the option attack on them and beating them in three ways.   Eventually, this was going to be used in the NFL.  Thank you Tebow for introducing it with a rush.   It can be stopped, but if defense guess wrong, 7 points are put up.   How many Tebow haters are hiding right now?  Tons of them.   Like rats when the lights come on.
• Pro Soccer player David Testo has come out of the box and announced he is gay.   This is no big deal if you carry humility.  Being gay is a normal way of living, a choice one makes early on and good for him to have the boulder off his shoulders.    Several people will criticize him for coming out and potentially ruining his career.   I applaud him for it.   Be gay and proud.   I’ll say this again.  The people who can’t get along with or understand gay people are the most unfortunate souls on this earth because they let a mythical retarded religion get in the way of meeting great people.   They are cowards for calling this a problem.   Testo’s teammates either act like grownups and support him or run like chickens.   This changes nothing.   I don’t watch much soccer but I respect the supreme athleticism of the sport and respect human choice even more.   Good for David.
• The Immortals will be the dumbest most useless movie of 2011 when it comes out tomorrow.   Another film about the gods and titans of old. The effects are overly dramatic, the actors look lost and the dialogue sounds like 2 6th graders drooled it during art class.   Henry Cavill worked this film to get the role of Superman in Zach Snyder’s new reboot.   It’s akin to sucking blowing someone to get a job at Vanity Fair.  Unfortunate.   Poor Henry.  Yawnnn….
• Billy Crystal is hosting the Oscars after the moronic Brett Ratner spit out a gay slur at a press junket for Tower Heist, resigned from the producing job and a day later his scared little boy comedy star, Eddie Murphy, quit the hosting job.   Crystal will kill in this role.   The last time he hosted the Oscars, the right blend of comedy and levity took place and the show was a blast.   The idea of a host is to make things fun whether or not the show is interesting or not and the movies are interesting or not.   Crystal will get it done.  Sure, Conan or Hanks would have worked.   Instead, Billy gets another run.  I’m happy.
• Ashton Kutcher is a fucking moron.   End of story.
• Washington Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos was kidnapped by 4 gunmen in Venezuela, a crazy place known for wild west actions and low life activity.   Spend your offseason there and bad things will happen.   Are we not surprised?   Be cool and spend your vacation in your hometown wild country or stay in Washington where it’s more safe.   Hard choice look easy now.   Ramos is missing and no contact has been made by the kidnappers.  This is the first time a major league baseball player has been taken.  Unfortunate circumstance easily explained by the region it happened in.
• One wonders if Tom Brady will ever get over the Super Bowl loss to the Giants and make his way back to the promise land again?  I think not.  The team around him has gotten old and is working slower.   He hasn’t won a playoff game in 4 years and looks vulnerable in the pocket at last.  I respect his ability but I do like to see him lose.   Underdog love I guess.
• Is Eli Manning playing better because his big brother isn’t casting a huge shadow over his head?   Yes.
• Am I surprised the Eagles aren’t doing well and might not make the playoffs?   No.  Michael Vick had to repeat his miraculous 2010 season and the defense had to hold up.  So far, the defense is getting burned and Vick can’t stay healthy enough to play at that elite level.     You don’t call a team Super Bowl champs based on paper my friends.  It’s bad business.  Who reps the team?  Lebron James and Chris Bosh?
• Do I care if the NBA lockout goes on and on and the 2011-2012 season is cancelled?  I don’t care at all.   Regular season NBA action is boring and sleep inducing and since St. Louis has no team, I am as far out of this emotionally as I can be.   Greed grows on every tree people.
• Vinny Update-The kid is battling consistent vomiting, going through outfits like a model, hogging attention, eating at an enormous rate and is as cute as a kid can possibly be at 8 weeks.   He’s a tough kid and he is mine.   The end.

That’s all folks.  Smoke, fire and grit to follow.  One last thing.  I’m working out in the mornings now with a good friend and that’s the way to go.   Find a partner and get at it until your body bleeds and burns.  We all know how to get healthy and lose weight.  Doing it is the hard part.  Here’s how I roll in gym land.   I went to the gym on Wednesday and walked in like I owned the joint.  I leaned in and warned the desk worker that there might be an explosion this morning.  After a chest workout, I got up and screamed like Carp as my arm pits were on fire.   When I got done with cardio, I jumped off, glared at an old man, and shaked off my sweat towards him like I was handing him a fresh cup of youth greatness.   Young people own this town.  As I left, I signed autographs, packed the guns away, lit a candle in the parking lot and walked off like Clint in the Unforgiven.  My work was done.   Working out just got a lot more interesting in the A.M..

That’s really all I have tonight.  Listen to some Black Keys if you know what’s good for you.  Their new album arrives in December.  Do your homework.  Start with Attack and Release and Rubber Factory and end with Brothers, their greatest piece of work.

Thanks for reading and goodnight.

-D.L.B.

The Buffa Bullet Points, November 8th, 2011-

 Blues Fire Davis Payne-House of Payne closes for business

• Expected move after mixed start.  The oldest rule in the book calls for the coach to be shoved off the boat first before players.
• Ken Hitchcock moves in, brings veteran mindset, relationship with Armstrong and Arnott/Langerbrunner.   Suggesting a move that was set up before season started.  Payne’s seat was set to explode if zero progress occured before mid November.  Armstrong had chance to make move with Hitch moving around in Columbus, took the bold step and pulled trigger.  Tough yet not a shocker after Andy Murray was thrown out in 2009.
• The firing of Payne mirrors the play in front of Halak.   The players don’t play to the level in front of Halak that they do in front of backup Brian Elliot.  The entire team quit playing for Payne.  Accountability my friends is key here.  If the Blues had put forth the effort promised to a hard working head coach like Payne, he is still here today.
• Payne took the firing like a dose of medicine.  Down the hatch, silent, honorable and with a healthy wager of respect for the team that gave him his first NHL job.   There were no excuses or extended pleas.  Payne handed over the whistle and dry erase board and left the building with his pride intact.  I’ve always like Payne.  He spoke directly to the media on any matter, demanded the best from his team and coached the right way.  When his kids let him down, he didn’t call them out in public.  He benched Oshie in the 3rd game of the year and sat him out last year when he missed a practice.  Payne was a silent warrior and did things the right way.  I hope he gets a job with another NHL team and comes back.
• Players need to be held accountable next.  In the day after Payne’s firing, they were all reading from the redemption teleprompter, saying all th right things.  I want to see some reaction play.  The biggest irony in sports has coaches going before players.  Easier on payroll.  Switch spots behind bench.   4th coach in six seasons for Blues.  Ugly trend.  Moving chairs continue.  The greatest reminder, unfortunately, for a player is to see the head coach get fired.  They know it happened based directly from the lack of performance they failed to generate.
• Payne was old school, direct with media and did things his way.   Players didn’t respond and his game ends.  If team makes zero progress in time coach takes the desk, the seat gets hot.   New ownership sped the move up.
• I agree with Bernie Miklasz’s article where he labels the Blues young talent “little darlings”.  Players like Perron, Oshie, Berglund and ex Blue Erik Johnson, who were set up to be superstars by President John Davidson but have so far disappointed.    The youth talent hasn’t delivered, and the one blessing in Payne firing/Hitchcock’s hiring is that he won’t see them as the golden group anymore.  The kids are just a few players on a team.
• If this doesn’t rally the team, NOTHING will.   Expect trades and moves. The Blues main problem is inconsistency from game to game in overall performance.   Can Hitchcock change that with a couple hard practices?  We will see.  Mike Keenan was the last coach to not be hired during the season.   Joel Quennville, Mike Kitchen, Andy Murray, Davis Payne and now Hitchcock are in season hires.  Unhealthy trend.  The Blues change head coaches like I change t-shirts.  When things get wet and messy.   It will be interesting to see if the respected veteran Hitchcock(who won a Stanley Cup in 1999 with Brett Hull) can turn things around and straighten out the derailed train here.
• The things I will look for the next 5 games at home here will be the consistency.   The Blues will come roaring out of the gate to show their new coach they mean business tonight.  However, the main thing to watch are the next 4 games.  Can they keep it up and maintain the tempo?  Will Hitchcock get through to these players?  Payne was optimistic about the team’s chances because after a rough 13 game start, the Blues are now playing 5 at home and enjoying an easy schedule for a couple weeks.  Hitchcock comes in at an opportune time.  In front of the home crowd against the team rival Blackhawks.
• One good thing about Hitchcock is his new lieutenants will be Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner, who played for him in Dallas.   They will serve as his on ice assistants, notifying Hitch of the loose ends and fatty parts of the team.  If Oshie and Bergie don’t step up their play, look for Hitch and Armstrong to ship them out.   Hitch doesn’t see individual players as gold mines.  He was the coach who forced Brett Hull to play defense and become a more complete player in 1999’s championship run.   Every player will get a healthy look and dose of reality.  That is the one good thing about the move.   All the players are on notice.  After the coach, they come next.
• I agree with Halak getting the start in net tonight.   He hasn’t played well and his save percentage is horrible, but he needs to have the chance to grasp the starting job.  We all know Elliot can play well, but Halak is the guy with 3 years left on his deal.   The Blues need to press Halak and see what he can bring while the season is still young.
• Tonight’s game will be played with a heavy heart.   The Blues honor Pavol Demitra and Igor Korolev tonight before the game, honoring the two former Blues who died in the plane crash near Moscow, Russia.   Pavol and Igor played for the KHL hockey team Lokomotiv and perished in the crash.   A letter from Demitra’s wife will be read before the game and I don’t expect a dry eye in Scottrade.  Demitra’s wife and kids won’t be there because after their dad’s death, the kids don’t want to get on a plane.  Now that is truly heart wrenching.
• Where does this team go from here?  Hopefully up and into the race.  Hitchcock will take no prisoners and demand a high level of play or ticket out of town for the players who fail to measure up.  The trade deadline is a little over 3 months away.

Goodnight Rams and Spags.

• The Rams played a horrible game on Sunday, losing to the Cardinals 19-13 on an overtime punt return from Arizona returner Patrick Petersen.  The Rams led the game 9-6, 11-6 and 13-6 yet couldn’t score the points to put the Cards away.  This team finds ways to lose and are truly pathetic.  They are 1-7 now and dead men walking.

• If Payne gets fired after a season and a half of failing to reach expectaions, Steve Spagnuolo has to be next.  In St. Louis, Rams coaches are given the benefit of the doubt for some reason.  Spags must be next to go.  1-7 record in 2011 needs some scrutiny and inspection.  9-33 record in 3 seasons is a ticket out of town.  Why are Rams coaches given the benefit of the doubt while the Blues usher in head coaches like golf caddies?  Mismanagement from above their pay grade.

• Rams play is plain ugly.  Give away more games than a cheating gambler.  A friend of mine put it best.  The offense is downright offensive.  How many times will a team win a football game without scoring a single touchdown on either side of the ball.  The answer is not very often.  This team has plummeted since the comeback 2010 season and every head is on the chopping block.   Owner Stan Kroneke didn’t buy the team to see it fail miserable.  He will make changes, cut heads and turn this team around.  What owner wants to buy into a franchise where home games will soon be blocked out locally?
• It’s absolutely hysterical that The Rams could walk into Arizona, a team with a 1-6 record and playing without their starting QB and lose the game and fail to score any touchdowns.  How do you do that and have your head coach not get the ax the following morning?  The fact that Spags has survived 48 hours is amazing.
• The Rams are beating themselves.  There’s no other excuse for producing such a lackluster performance against a bad team like Arizona, especially after the big win over New Orleans the week before.
• What is the answer for this team?  Reinforcements and healthy bodies.  Will Mark Clayton ever make it onto the playing field?  Is Danario Alexander done for the year with chronic knee soreness?  Is Sam Bradford 100 percent?  How long before Steven Jackson pulls a muscle?  Losing Danny Amendola hurt the offense.  On Sunday, WR Greg Salas was lost for the season and Lance Kendricks went down.  This team was good enough to compete at the beginning of the season yet looks like a shell of itself now.
• Sam Bradford needs to unleash hell on the practice field this week.  The kid demands plenty of himself yet doesn’t let it be known to his teammates.  This is his team.  Its great to see Steven Jackson shouting at Roger Saffold but Bradford needs to get loud.  His performance is dictated by how well his offensive line performs and if his receivers catch.  He needs to step it up.  Look at Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady for example.  They don’t accept lackluster efforts.  When Bradford becomes that guy, takes ordinary talent and mixes it with cutthroat leadership, great things will happen.
• Steven Jackson can’t be faulted.  He has produced back to back big running days and is doing everything he can do to bring this team up to winning ready.   SJ39 is running wild, being consistent, staying healthy and leading his teammates.  You won’t see a louder voice in the locker room.
• The thing that killed me on Sunday.  With 1 minute and 20 seconds left in the game, the Rams had a chance to kick a 50 yard field goal.   Josh Brown was brought to this team for his big leg, a leg we know well from his Seahawks days.  He should have kicked the ball through the uprights for the winning score.  Spags instead opted for the run on 4th down and Jackson was stopped cold for  a loss.  Why do you always have to run on 4th down?  The defense is stacked to stop the run yet they still do.  Makes zero sense.  Do the play action and dump it to the full back or hit a quick slant.  All a receiver has to do is dart inside the defender and catch a 2 yard pass.   Brown got the opportunity to kick later and had his 42 yard attempt blocked.  Poetic justice for Spags, who should have lost his job for the decision.

Will a St. Louis Sports team other than the Cardinals ever win a championship?  I’m just asking an ordinary question.   Will the closest the Rams or Blues get to a championship party is seeing Tony La Russa bring his title into the dome before a game or into Scottrade for the drop of the puck?  Is that the closest either team will get for the next few years?  As my co-worker Chris Carrara pleaded, “Win one before I die!”   The Blues are winless in over forty years of play in St. Louis.   The Rams won a Super Bowl in 1999 but have sunk far below in the 12 years since.  A legit question is being placed here.  Are the Cardinals all we got? When will the Blues or Rams give something back to us other than supreme disappointment?  The clock is ticking.   It has been for over a decade.

Moving onto other topics-

• Joe Frazier passed away last night after a long bout with liver cancer.  He was 67 years old and went down like his fighting days.  Resistance and power included.  Frazier was one of the greatest boxers to ever step into a ring.  He was the first guy to officially shut Muhammed Ali up, breaking his jaw and beating him once at the Garden and nearly again in “The Thrilla in Manila”.  Frazier fought in an era when fighters stood in the middle of the ring and traded heavy power punches.  There wasn’t as much hugging and dancing.  Frazier attacked opponents, knocking them to the canvas or landing there himself(as seen in 2 bad fights with George Foreman).   He will forever be connected with Ali because of their three fights.   The Thrilla in Manila included both fighters beating each other raw and bloody, up until the point where Frazier’s eyes were swollen shut and his trainer wouldn’t let him go out for the 15th round.  These guys were tougher than Greek warriors.   They were true boxers and hitters.  Getting hit by Frazier would be like sticking your head between subway cars.  Counter clockwise tilt.  In his later years, he signed many boxing memorabilia, met with fans, put his face out there and stayed in the public eye.  HBO Films did a great piece on the Manila fight.   Frazier left everything in the ring and in the end, he treated life the same way.   You go after life, and not the other way around.
• Looking forward to Miguel Cotto and Antonio Margarito getting back into the ring again for the rematch.   The last time Cotto faced him in the ring, his face was bloodied and he was looking at his first loss.   Weeks later, Margarito’s gloves were found to be packed with cement, thus raising the need for a rematch.  Cotto is a proud Puerto Rican boxer and deserved a chance to right a wrong.   Margarito got his face pounded last year by Manny Pacquaio, spoiling his comeback and setting him out of boxing for an entire year.   Now the two men clash again.  Cotto looking for revenge and Margarito searching for his reputation as a brick faced puncher.  They come together on December 3rd and there will be fireworks, plenty of action and a clean decision.   Antonio cheated the first time(denies it with stupidity to this day) and now he has to come back to a close bloody fight with an opponent in Cotto looking to even the score.   This will be interesting.  Pure Good/Bad clashing.
• Boardwalk Empire continues to amaze on Sundays on HBO.  From Steve Buscemi’s slow boil performance as the center of corruption in Atlantic City, Nucky Thompson, to Terrence Winter’s gritty writing and the outlandish sets, this roaring twenties Gangster epic series simply delivers.    Riding through its second season with ease, Nucky’s old right hand, Jimmy Daherty is coming into his own power and trying to steal back the city from the treasurer/father figure.  Along the way, he is joining forces with Lucky Luciano and Al Capone.   FBI agent Nelson Van Alden(Michael Shannon, all nerves and edge) is struggling to remain professional as he takes care of a child out of wedlock.  There’s sinners, thieves, killers, wounded warriors and women who stick by their men for no rhyme or reason.   Margaret(Kelly McDonald) is the heart of the show, an Irish immigrant who fell for Nucky but finds his sins causing her to question everything she is all about.   Boardwalk Empire entertains zero clear cut heroes or villains.  Don’t forget about Chalky White(Michael Kenneth Williams aka Omar from the Wire), the black pride of the city, fighting off racism in the Ku Klux Clan and rival liqueor dealers in the city.  A show that started as a parable on prohibition has evolved into a story of anti-heroes into watching regular men and women make choices that put their life at risk and cause bloodshed.  This is the Gold Rush where everybody is on their own team.
• Mizzou is moving to the SEC conference and here is my take.  This is a short term problem but a long term reward.   Moving into the SEC allows better recruiting, more money flow into the program and a better fleet of opponents.  MU doesn’t get to face Kansas anymore but they can build a better team and get better prime time programming.  This is a chance at the big time.  MU loyalists will hate this move at first and so they should.  It is taking away everything they know and love.  Close to the chest is officially gone and the cold comfort of competition lurks around the corner.  For the near future, MU will take a beating.  They will embarrass several fans.  Until QB James Franklin can learn to throw or the MU defense can learn how to tackle(with the body and not just the arms), the scoreboard will be rough.  Gary Pinkel may lose his job or survive to see the light in 3-5 seasons.  Call it what you want but the MU Tigers are playing with the big boys starting next year.  Watch now.  Accept later.  This is worth the risk and emotional leverage of the fan base.
• Terry Francona interviewed for the Cards managing job today in Cincy and if both sides are seeing eye to eye on the future, the Cards need to lock down Tito as the skipper.  Look no further and make this guy the leader.  Its safe, smart and savvy for the media to play with.  There’s rich history in Francona’s success in Boston.  There’s potential dirt in his September collapse this past season.   It’s all there, so make the deal.  Francona is the perfect fit for this team.  Let’s hope for a deal to get done before I break out of work on Friday.
• Disturbing fact about the Rams.   They have scored 100 points and allowed 211 points to their opponents.  It equals a 1-7 record.  Painful stats.   For some bad teams, the answers are all in the statistics.
• J.Edgar Hype builds for this weekend.   The story of the man who redefined justice at any cost and wrapped his powerful hands around the FBI and launched it comes out Friday and it bleeds Oscar potential.   Clint Eastwood directing Leonardo DiCaprio(one of the smartest actors in Hollywood) as J. Edgar Hoover in a movie written by Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black(wrote Oscar nominated MILK) and produced by Warner Bros..   What else do you need?  A juicy story.   Hoover’s rise from lawman to the head of the FBI to the typical anti-hero.   This is what award winners are made from.   Everything about this film shines from a distance. Eastwood doesn’t cast a bright light on his subjects.  He makes movies about torn men, bloody history and scarred decision making.  This film will delve into what made Hoover tick, and stick around in the psychologically department.   Rumors about Hoover’s sexual preference will get hints here, as will his wielding stroke of power across the Federal Bureau for 30 years.    November and December mean Oscar bait my friends.  DiCap is the perfect choice because the kid is fearless and has been ever since Martin Scorsese rescued him from career wreckage.  He threw him into Gangs of New York and he has been aces since.  Leo is a master at characters dealing with paranoia, as shown in The Aviator and Shutter Island.  Few actors can capture an audience with nervous tics, mental energy and an exhaustingly great ability to resist overplaying a role.  Eastwood doesn’t waste a dollar or take.   Expect greatness on the screen.
• If I were Rams Owner Stan Kroenke, I would beg Bill Cowher to come coach here.  Throw a ton of money at him.  Give him control and free rein to get in anybody’s face and send a message.   The Rams have a core built here.  Bradford, Jackson, Long, Quinn, and Amendola when he returns.   I don’t want Josh McDaniels moving into the head coaching spot because we all know how he did in Denver.  Cowher needs to be persuaded.  Pure and simple.  Give this team a pulse.  They need something or else the season goes sour quick.
• Herman Cain is suspected of sexual harassment.   A politician is charged with doing sexual acts with the wrong parties.  No way….???!!  Why is this news for ears and eyes?  Political suits have been doing bad things for decades and will never change.  People forget because the person is on a television screen that he can do no wrong.  Everyone is fallable.  Of course he denied it.  Cain actually said he hasn’t had sexual interaction with anyone.   Whoa!  Let’s not go there.  I want my leader getting some sexy time before he goes nuts and makes a bad decision based on no bedroom action.
• DVD Review-Jenna Fisher is the reason to watch Little Help, an ordinary run of the mill recovery story about a widowed mother trying to piece her life back together.   Rob Benedict and Ron Leibman co-star here but the show belongs to Fisher, the St. Louis talent who made a career on NBC’s The Office, but makes a fine showcase here in carrying this indie film.   When her husband dies suddenly, Fisher’s loner is forced to realign her life and reconnect with her son, who wants to call his dad a fireman who died in 9/11 when all his father did was sell real estate.  She also likes to drink and smoke her problems away and only when a malpractice suit comes forward, do she realize things need to be turned around.  There are a few surprises in this film and some small delight, but we have seen it before and the only reason to take a dip her is Fisher.  Great work.
• The Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 3 game trailer on FOX is awesome.  Big time cool working here.   Watching the clip with Sam Worthington and Jonah Hill killing bad guys and looking cool doing it, you’re waiting for a movie release date only to realize the trailer is for a new video game.   The special effects, action and pace are great but its the match of Worthington and Hill that make this 90 second clip roll smoothly.   Wisecracking macho cool action slick work.
• The Penn State college football crisis is highly unfortunate.   Legendary head coach Joe Paterno’s career is in jeapardy after his one time defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky is charged with 15 counts of child molestation.  Wow, no one saw this coming.    Paterno’s program looked clean and shiny from a regular point of view, but Sandusky’s arrest this weekend paints a cloudy picture of Penn State and Paterno may lose his job shortly after getting his record setting 409th win.   The main problem is the length at which Sandusky worked for Penn State while committing the acts.   For these acts to go undetected while he was on their payroll is bad business and will shake up the university.  Sometimes, you just don’t know people or you don’t care to look too far within a person.   Sad news for Joe, a coach I carry a lot of respect for.
• Song of the Day-AC/DC performing “Shoot to Thrill”, a wild classic rocker that can be heard all over the net on trailers and shows.   This band is known for old school hardcore rock, no metal or additional noise required.   This is a song to get the blood and juices flowing in the morning.   Try it out and resist the urge to run a few miles.
• Second Song of the Day-Florence + The Machine performing “Never Let Me Go”.  A passionate slow moving ballad from her new disc, Ceremonials.   Like her or not, you have to respect Florence Welch’s powerfully deep voice and her songs all boil around the pursuit and relialble hurt of love.   She is a romantic redhead who likes to shout her issues through a microphone so the entire world can hear.   A musician who expresses her own fight through her music and doesn’t hide a bit of her soul.    This is her second album, the last being “Lungs’, a collection of fiery ballad rockers that sting several trips through later.   Listen to this new song and you’ll walk away muttering the lingering anthem of the tune, “Never let me go, never let me go, and it’s over, I’m giving in, never let me go.”
• If there is one thing I can promise you about parenthood is that worrying becomes a tool in your life.  You worry to resist the most scary set of outcomes for your child.   It’s a real deal.   You worry, worry, and keep worrying over everything.   If we don’t worry, the pain and stress of parenthood’s darkest hour will consume you.   In the first 8 weeks of my kid’s life, he has spent 6 days in intensive care, the rest medicated for SVT(heart rate elevation), suffering from severe reflux and changing formulas and sleeping periods like a time traveller.  All I can tell you is.  It will be the most original and entertainingly stressful ride you will take in life.  Is it worth it?  Yes.  More than worth it IF you are up to the task.

That’s all I have tonight folks.  Thanks for reading, come again and return hungry for more brutally honest news because that’s the only way I know how to bring it.

Goodnight and good luck,

D.L.B.

Is everybody here?  Fuck it, I’m going anyway.   This may not rip your face off but it will make contact with your brain. 

Reasons Why Terry Francona is a solid safe choice for the Cardinals Open Manager Spot

1.)The man won 2 World series titles in Boston from 2004-2010 after Boston went decades without a title.   Francona is a proven winner, and a guy who can handle a clubhouse full of superstars and heavy ego battles.   Manny Rameriz, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, and Jonathon Papelbon all served under Tito and he got results.   You can’t blame the guy for the September meltdown.  The Boston rotation blew up an ERA of 7.51 and the team just stopped playing good baseball.  No one is chasing Freddy Gonzalez for his job after the Braves collapsed in Atlanta.   A few Boston players hung out in the clubhouse during games and that looks bad on Francona, but I still like him for the job here because he won big time in Boston.

2.)Did I mention he won in Boston, fierce rival of the New York Yankees?  Francona managed a top of the market baseball club with a diehard fan base in the toughest division in baseball, the AL East.  Terry Francona will move from the Al East to the comedy NL Central, marking a drop in competitive baseball and making this job seem like a piece of cake.

3.)The Cardinals are set up to compete for a World Series in 2012, with or without Pujols.   Francona doesn’t have to come in here and realign a strategy and start fresh.  He is walking into a clubhouse with hired killers who get the job done.  He comes into a team with 5 set starters, cornerstone players and a fan base ready to see playoff baseball.  He is joining a team that just won the World Series.  There is pressure, but he is built for it.

4.)Francona has the support of Dave Duncan, the best pitching coach in baseball.  They could make a great team.

5.)Francona is a good guy, carries a solid baseball mind and is well respected.  He is a perfect skipper to work under Mozelaik and DeWitt Jr..   He doesn’t make excuses, gets the best out of his players, works well with players and made the classy gesture in Boston and left before the team could kick him out.  When the dark cloud fell on Boston and Theo Epstein scrambled off to Chicago, Francona decided to resign, take the heavy side of the blame and did the right thing.  Start clean.  St. Louis is a good spot for Terry Francona.  The two sides fit each others plans.

Francona gives the Cards stability, a strong resume, a history of World Series activity and a seasoned veteran presence to watch over this team.  The Cards can give Francona a second lease on life in Cardinal Nation.   Once again, Oquendo deserves an interview for his experience and history with club, but Francona is a big name to go out and grab.  You can’t buy the respect the players have for Oquendo, but you can’t write off the fact that Francona won 2 championships in the hot tundra of MLB baseball in Boston.   If he wants the job here, I’d be surprised if Mo turned him down.

A random chat with P.J. today brought out these other Cardinals needs-

Agree on the lefty specialist role fill and it should be easy.  Rzep is your long guy and all we need is a one out arm.
-Pujols is biggest task for this team.   Mo didn’t get much time to celebrate when days later the manager spot was vacant and Pujols’ clock ran out.   He has to get to work and once again, the Cards need to offer Pujols a new deal.   Start the betting yourself. 
-Furcal is  the biggest need because Cards have zero organizational depth at shortstop.  Do we really want to hinge our season hopes on Tyler Greene playing 162 games this season?  The answer is no.    Rafy is most important recall.   Incentive based deal is in effect there.
-I don’t mind Jose Oquendo as the skipper if Francona fell through because there wouldn’t be a big adjustment there either because players know him well and will only see him in different role.  I agree with Bernie that they shouldn’t hire Jose because he is Alberts buddy.  That would kill Jose’s creditibility and hurt the team.   Some morons are screaming that in this city and I had to shoot it down. 
-Finally, there aren’t too many holes on the team.   Figure out Albert, shortstop, the lefty specialist and maybe second basemen and the team is good.   First, Albert gets a deal.  That is the deal for which every other deal hinges on.   Albert’s epic saga of his future here.  Until we finish that deal, nothing else can be done.   However, the Cards should have an amount in their head annually that Albert is getting so if Furcal or Dotel want to come back, its easy. 
-Jose Reyes is too injury prone and I don’t want to blow 15 million on his future.  Too injury prone to risk it for.   If Pujols gets greedy and runs away, you do have 20 million plus dollars opening up but I would be very hesitant to hand any over to Reyes.  Explosive player that gets a leg injury every 30 games he plays. 
-Allen Craig is your right handed compliment to Jon Jay in Center field based off his big bat and improved defense.  There is no need to rumage through the free agent wire for a bat when you have Craig at your disposal and cheap.

I expect things to happen in this order-
-Hire Francona in less than a week
-Sign Pujols before Christmas
-Take care of loose ends.  

Cardinal Nation lives on for another season.  This team is set to contend for the pennant next season with a few recalls. 

Other Things-

• Sad part about Rams directional path.   If this weekend’s game was being played at home, it wouldn’t sell out and the game wouldn’t be on television.  After last year’s finish, I can’t believe those words are here but its true.   If the backups start in Arizona, wear a mask to the couch.
• The Blues play Vancover at home and who gets the start in net?  Brian Elliot has been solid and is 4-1.   Jaroslav Halak is a starter who gives up too many goals and looks dead in the net but could be victimized by a bad defense.   Who gets the call?  If I am controlling the ship, Halak gets one more night to put a stranglehold on position.  You have to see what he has left. 
• What is a gonzo journalist?  A writer who inserts himself into his own stories.   Hunter S. Thompson was a gonzo journalist.  He put himself into a situation in real life and built a story around it on paper. 
• What would we do without caffiene?  Right now I am lit up on two cups of strong coffee, but I feel the need for more.  What would we do if we didn’t have caffiene fixes, nicotine hits or a buffet food bar?  Chaos in the streets. 
• If there was a show on television that pushes the boundaries of good/evil right now more than FX’s Sons of Anarchy, please tell me where it’s at.  Ron Perlman’s Clay made a decision this week that twisted my stomach but its a good twist for the show.  Good TV shows keep the viewers guessing what their characters’ motives really are. 
• Hells On Wheels on AMC is the latest shot at a Western.   I am in for the first episode.  In the 1960s and 1970s, westerns owned television.  Now things have changed.  AMC is hot right now, so look for the railroad revenge drama to score first.
• Once again, listen to The Black Keys new single, Lonely Boy from their next album, El Camino.  Like the car its named after, the song and album bleed modern blues rock.  

That’s all I have for you today.  Short, brutal and quick. 

Goodnight,

DLB

Quick and brutal, I’m going to run through a midday stream of conscience while on break.

The Safe Bet For Cardinals Manager-Terry Francona, all end of the 2011 season turmoil in Boston aside, is the most logical outside choice for the Cardinals.   If they interview Jose Oquendo(qualified and safe inside choice), decide he isn’t the right guy for the job, Francona is the best guy for the job.  John Mozelaik doesn’t need to go out and find Wyatt Earp to manage this team.   The Cardinals are a sound group of smart veteran and young players who know how to go about their business.   This team is built to contend and doesn’t need a fiery presence like Lloyd McClendon(a choice of a friend of mine).   The Cardinals need a person to come in, install a sense of order, supervise the activity and stand to the side and let his players work their talent.  Terry Francona won 2 World Series in Boston by letting his players run wild and free.  It backfired on him in September when the team quit playing and players were found to spend time in the clubhouse eating and watching TV during games.  However, Francona fits the Cards mold of safe, strong, experienced leadership.   He is a guy who will take orders, won’t object often and let Pujols and company roam.   Jim Riggleman walked out on the Nationals midseason in true Whitey style  because he didn’t get a contract extension, and that delivered a severe blow to his creditability.  Joe Maddon is staying put in his ground up built academy in Tampa.   Francona is either going to the Cards or he will land in Chicago with his old friend Theo Epstein after he gets rid of Mike Quade.  Francona is a logical choice for the Cards and seems to fit their idea of a manager.  He isn’t my first choice but he could be high on the list at Busch.

I don’t think La Russa’s departure will have a negative effect on Pujols’ situation.  A lot of players have the freedom to do what they want on teams.   Your example was perfect.  The Entire Red Sox team had this freedom.   Eat chicken, watch porn, play video games and do whatever.  Pujols is such a great player he gets to run through stop signs, play hurt and run
wild.   I still don’t think he called his own hit and run.  I just can’t believe it and if he did, he would have swung and not lost a chance at an RBI in a crucial game.  I don’t think Pujols will have an extreme caution to come back because La Russa is gone.  He was a father figure to Albert and treated him like a son, but Pujols will adapt and play fine under a new skipper. Bad
players let new managers ruin their careers.   La Russa’s departure is serious but not a bad thing for Albert’s future.   Pujols won’t be the guy to come out and say this manager sucks and I can’t play for him.  Nothing will stop Albert from doing his normal routine.  It helped that most of the time his daring baserunning paid off, his play at first base warranted the
claim of 2B-1B with his positioning and his decision making helped the ballclub.   If the Cards were smart, they are going to hire a Francona type who is respected yet lets his players run
wild.

There is a 5 day exclusive rights period for the Cards to talk to Albert Pujols and after midnight tonight, he is officially a free agent.   Look, real honest here about Albert.   While the Cards know they waited as long as possible to get this done, Albert has to know the Cards can’t pay him crazy money.   They can’t match Chicago, Texas or The Dodgers with a new owner dollar for dollar.   In the end, Albert’s going to have to take a discount to remain a Cardinal.   That’s the cost of having Matt Holliday, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Lance Berkman flanking you every night.  If you want to have a loaded roster in a mid level market, you have to know where the limits are.   Albert deserves the golden deal, but he has to understand who he is talking to.   Reality needs to hit both sides of this negotiation.   Pujols needs to finish his career here and for that to happen, he will have to take 1 or 2 less years and 5-6 less million dollars a year.   That’s the bottom line.   If the talks fall apart, everyone’s eyes will be on Pujols and why he let it go.   I will look at both sides and wonder.   However, Albert Pujols must know where he wants to go because at the end of the day, when all the chips hit the ground, he will have to choose to stay here and not accept the extra 4-6 million or extra couple years.  That’s his choice.  But….

The problem is, Mo and the suits aren’t contacting Albert yet.   With 5 days to exclusively talk to the best player in baseball, they are letting Albert’s people contact
them.  Bad move.  I don’t care what Albert wants here.  Call Lorano now.   You don’t waste those hours waiting before he hits the market.  Why let Albert hit
the market without a new offer and after the recovery MVP second half Albert had, the offer better be bigger than springs offer.   Waiting is stupid, so this completely wipes
out our point.  They should contact Albert, get him signed and promise him a part in finding the manager.  If this leads to Jose getting the job and
Albert staying, I’m fine with it.  If this pushes the two sides apart, let Albert make his brother the manager.   Mo and company would be stupid to not let the sharp mind of Albert have a say in the search.   We agree here.  La Russa’s exit doesn’t negatively impact Albert’s situation unless the Cards fail to contact him soon and let him know about the new skipper.  Remember what The Lakers did to Kobe when they hired Mike Brown without telling him.  It pissed him off.   Let’s not piss off Albert here.  He is too important.

For all the fuck tards that think Lance Berkman can do what Albert can at first base, let me remind you.   Lance Berkman is declining and while he had an amazing season, he will
never do what Albert can do and will have a hard time repeating his 2011 performance.  Everyone is writing in Lance at first, and that is plain stupid.  Berkman is a mere insurance policy for Pujols and always has been.   Prime or late career, Berkman isn’t Albert in any facet of the game.  Leave him in right field to split time with Allen Craig.   Putting him at first base doesn’t mean he will repeat his performance from 2010 or dobetter.   Betting on Berkman doing what he did again is high stakes poker.  I like the guy but stop the nonsense.

For me, giving Jose Oquendo a shot is the safest move of all.   He is well respected, been around the game for a long time, doesn’t carry any negative history and is comfortable in the surroundings of this team.   There would be little carry over effect if Jose stepped into the manager’s office.  Going from third base to the dugout.   You wouldn’t have to convince Albert Pujols that Francona/Riggleman have gotten over their rough past and will be good for the team.  Hire Oquendo and Pujols signs the next day because players are comfortable with him already.  There’s a core of respect and knowledge that exists in Oquendo’s relationship to this team.   He isn’t a risk like Francona and Riggleman are.  He is a cheap, worthy, old school baseball mind with a need to lead.  Hopefully, he is considered.

Yadi Molina win his 4th Gold Glove.  This is a no brainer because everybody in baseball knows how good Molina is and his overall effect on the running game.  Molina doesn’t get as many chances as other catchers because runners simply don’t test him as often.   If it’s handling a changing pitching staff, throwing out runners at second or picking runners off third, Molina is a programmed machine behind the plate.   He shuts down running games.  He is revered in this league.   He is the most deserving catcher in either league and deserves to be honored.

I have no problem with the Cards declining the options of Rafy Furcal and Octavio Dotel.    They both helped this team immensely in the second half of 2011, but there is no room on the payroll to hand Rafy 12 million or Dotel 3.5 million.   You pull them in and renegotiate.   Dotel was a great addition and was key in shutting down big righthanded hitters in the playoffs.   He was also a clubhouse rally soul and lifted this team up and put a vet presence in the bullpen.   Furcal fixed the infield defense with his sure glove and rifle arm.   His bat was streaky and occasionally included power but will never be the Furcal of old.   Furcal needs to realize he isn’t a 12 million dollar player anymore.  Either he accepts that, takes less(4-5 million with incentives) or gets stupid and goes elsewhere.  Dotel pitched better here than he has anywhere in years in the final 3 months.   Both are players I want back but not at 15.5 million. With Albert pending, no way.  I will say the Cards are loaded at depth in right handed relief and have little major league shortstop talent ready, so Furcal is more important.

Switching Gears to Football-

Tim Tebow is struggling and that is to be expected from a kid with unpolished skills and a raw talent set for quarterback.    Tebow played an ugly three quarters against Miami two weeks ago and put together a strong 4th to lead a come from behind win but got hammered last week in Detroit.   He went from escape artist to supreme punch line across America.   He deserves a couple more shots at taking over the job before the forgotten kid, Brady Quinn, gets his 5th shot at being a successful NFL quarterback.   Tebow is the classic underdog.   His head coach, John Fox and owner John Elway don’t want him to succeed because they didn’t pick him to make it and want a pocket passer.  Former Denver Head Coach and current offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels drafted Tebow with the hopes of installing him in his wild offense.  Tebow is going to have to overcome a lot and drastically improve his overall game if he wants to beat the odds.   He is a good kid, talented physical specimen and has the ability to lead but he needs to improve.  He gets at least another week before Fox pulls him and shuts down the Tebow show.  He is a fine example of a fan favorite being given zero favors in an attempt to prove others wrong.  As Bill Parcells said, you either win or lose at this level and that’s all that counts.

Sam Bradford returns to action this week and hopefully gets into the game against Arizona.  The fact that the Rams won 1 of A.J. Feeley’s starts is tremendous.  Feeley overthrew receivers all day and managed to not mess up a good day.   Now Bradford makes his way back.   After missing 2 weeks with a high ankle sprain, he is back on the field and moving around.   Part of his return is to create a winning streak and maybe salvage the season or exit with a little dignity.  Facing a lowly Arizona team without its starting quarterback is a bonus opportunity.  Kevin Kolb has turf toe(one of this conditions I can’t wrap my head around) and probably won’t play.  This is a chance for the Rams to create some momentum and get back into the NFC West picture.  With the 49ers outstanding start, the likelihood of a comeback here is small if nonexistent.  However, you can’t hurt yourself by winning so I’m excited to see the Rams are standing with their heads up.  Bradford is the cornerstone player here and gives an impact to this team few can match.  He is a smart calculated player who will be thrilled to notice a new toy and set of arms on the outside wing in receiver Brandon Lloyd.  The Rams can’t afford to lose to bad teams and must take care of business this weekend on the road.

If it is left to Feeley and the Rams, Sunday’s game will be ugly.   The Rams and Cards rank near the bottom of the league in penalties and overall ugly play.   Two backup quarterbacks and two bad offensive lines.  The Cards O-Line is horrible, so Chris Long and Robert Quinn should put up great work on the ends.   My advice would be to pound Steven Jackson into the Cards defense all day long and hope Feeley doesn’t lose the game for you.   The Rams need to win this game badly.   Lose and grab a shovel.

Andrew Luck may suck in the NFL.  There, I said it.   I’m sick and tired of hearing how good this kid may be based on college performances and the way he throws or beats defenses in college play.   I have seen the kid play and while he is impressive, there is no guarantee he can put up wins in the NFL.   Wait and see.  No player is a lock to play well in the NFL.  There is no way to calculate Luck making big plays or succeeding in this league.  Look at history.   Tom Brady was picked in the 6th round.   Aaron Rodgers wasn’t taken 1st overall and won a Super Bowl.  Peyton Manning is great but was taken behind the worst #1 pick in history, Ryan Leaf.   Cam Newton was supposed to be a huge flop, got drafted #1 overall, got a shortened training camp and has put up staggeringly good numbers in his first 7 games.  Christian Ponder was on no one’s radar and won a game last Sunday.   Alex Smith is just now starting to not completely fuck things up in San Francisco.  Sam Bradford was a solid pick for the Rams but I couldn’t tell you he would succeed and didn’t feel the need to dry hump him up to the podium.   Luck is a good kid, has a great arm, strong ability, but can he do the things he is doing at Stanford in the NFL.  WHO KNOWS?  Bypass the Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. hard-on classes and hearing Luck is the best player to come out of college in 30 years.  They are brainwashing you.  If a year from now Luck is lighting it up down in Miami, I will eat my words properly.  I am just tired of hearing about how good he is.  There’s no way to tell.  He is a college quarterback who plays in the standard college offense.  NFL defenses are relentless, hard hitting, killers.   College tackles are lame.   Get real folks.  Wait and see.  Don’t place any bets.  Andrew Could be Shit Out Of Luck.

A Change of Pace, Different Seasons-Now that the Cards are done playing and the only conversation is free agents and manager vacancies, I have settled into my off period of the year.   While I still write about the Rams and Blues, the Cards demand so much attention in season that when they aren’t in session, the blogs are looser and more casual.  This isn’t a slap to the other teams or an indicator that I don’t care.  The fact is that the Rams play once a week and the Blues play 3 times at most, which leaves more off days to relax, write about random topics and ease into my blogs instead of running to the computer to confess violent acts.  It also leaves more time for movies, and with a strong entertaining fleet of films on the way this winter, I will be picking and matching like any new parent can.   Here’s a DVD review.

Crazy Stupid Love Review-A polite well written romantic comedy about a guy hitting the ultimate mid-life crisis wall and getting help from an unlikely source.  Steve Carell is Cal Weaver, who gets dumped by his wife in the first scene of the movie.  Cal’s wife Emily(Julianne Moore) is bored and doesn’t feel Cal is interested any longer.  She throws him out and demands a divorce.  Cal is sent adrift and while he has the adoration of his kids, he is left lost on the dating scene.   It’s not until he runs into Jacob(a cool and cavalier Ryan Gosling) that his life starts to change.  Jacob sees a poor tired guy that needs a makeover and so he runs Cal through the gauntlet, throwing him into new clothes, a new haircut and a way of life.   Jacob is a true player, a man who can breath in a woman’s direction and get her in the bed.  Watching him transform Cal into a replica of himself is both interesting and dull because you know where things are headed.   Things get even more interesting when Jacob meets a woman that he actually likes and Cal soon thinks about his newfound life.   This is a film about the destructible practice of falling in and out of love.   The bonds of marriage.  Finding true love and facing up to your past.  Cal and Jacob face the biggest tests of their life.   There are smaller stories here.   Cal’s son falling in love with his babysitter, only to find out an unfortunate secret.   Emily starts to get in touch with a work friend(Kevin Bacon).   There’s a twist near the end that ties everything together and while it doesn’t fail the story, the end is recycled and predictable.  That’s fine and makes for a good fun film, but I guess I wanted more here.  With the sharp script, good cast and set up, there was more to be discovered here.  Dan Fogelman’s script was ambitious and infused with whip smart humor and dialogue.  However, the end is kind of been there and seen that.   Cal’s journey is predictable and Jacob’s reality check is perfectly timed so much that the big speech at the end and plot twist land yet don’t leave a dent.  Crazy Stupid Love is a common story told with some skill and has good acting, but it doesn’t have that “wow” factor that I was expecting.  Gosling is sharp, Carell is the same guy he has been in several films and nobody goes wild here.    If you like romantic comedies, this will satisfy you.  If you don’t and want something fresh instead, it may disappoint.  See for yourself but I’m backing away.

Official Announcement-Mike Quade is out as the Cubs skipper.  New President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein made the call, saying he wanted a clean slate in Chicago.  In other words, he didn’t want his new team to suck.   Quade was 71-91 in 2011, dealt with the obnoxious Carlos Zambrano, sunk fast in the NL Central and won’t be back.  I expect Theo to try to reconnect with Francona.  In all honesty, The Cubs need someone more ambitious and fiery than Terry.   This is where Lloyd McClendon would fit in because he is a guy looking to prove his worth and validate his career.  Francona wouldn’t want to dip his solid record into Wrigley hell.   Expect Theo to make a couple moves. He didn’t take the job as a vacation.  Kid likes a challenge.

Johnny Depp’s Crazy Adventures-The main reason I want to see the Rum Diary is Johnny Depp’s zany ability to go crazy inside a film.   He is least effective in films where he has to play it completely straight, like when he played John Dillinger in Public Enemies.  In order to be effective, Depp has to be cut loose and given a wide range to play around in.   Hunter S. Thompson’s stories are the perfect place for Depp.  Thompson was a gonzo journalist, which means he went after the decrepit underworld of human activity.  Drugs, bad decisions, and wild activity.   Thompson wrote stories about his adventures that started in reality and ended inside his head.   The Rum Diary is based on Thompson’s 1960 adventure in San Juan, PR where he went to work for a local newspaper and got mixed up in corruption, alcohol, drugs and the wrong woman.   Depp unearthed this short story long after Thompson died and got it published and helped produced this film.   Depp and Thompson were friends and one can see the connection between the actor and the writer.  A willingness to expose yourself for the love of an art.  The Rum Diary looks fresh and original.   That’s the appeal.

According to Ken Rosenthal, The Cardinals are asking permission to speak to Ryan Sandberg, the hall of fame Ex-Cub who was a front runner for the Cubs managerial spot before the 2011 season before the Cubs kept Mike Quade.   Now, The Cards are making a pitch at Sandberg, currently a coach in the majors.   I like this move because of a respect for Sandberg but you’d have to love the irony of a Cubs legend coming to the Cards to manage this team.  Sandberg would have to halt his depression meds and the Cards would want an apology for all the game winning hits against them during his playing years.   While this is an outside shot at happening, I like Mozelaik going for every possible corner and making the search interesting.   The normal players for the job are Francona, Oquendo, Riggleman, Terry Pendleton, Joe Maddon and maybe the Memphis manager.  Sandberg is a wild card.  Look for more on this.

Little Things-

*Why do medical forms and job application forms have to include answer slots that are so small its impossible to answer correctly and fully?  Are we trying to incorporate polish prison rules or something?

*Song of the Day-My Morning Jacket performing “Victory Dance”, the smooth tempo rocker that kicks off their latest album, Circuital.

*Odds that Sandberg lands in Chicago and Francona lands in St. Louis as new managers.   Decent chance.  I’d say 3-1 on each.

*Was it just me or did half a million adults wish David Freese would have bashed Justin Bieber and Jay Leno in the jaw on Monday Night?

*Tony La Russa-Next Late Night Sports Show Host?  Tony TV Lives.

*What’s uglier on Dallas Cowboys facility?  Rob Ryan’s haircut or Tony Romo’s overall play?

*Remember to Appreciate the little things in life-One of those things for me are the holiday cups used at Starbucks.  That time of year again where the red and white cups come out and boost the mood on a daily basis.  My coffee choice of the moment.   16 ounce cup of the bold pick of the day with an extra shot of espresso.   We call that a red eye selection.

That’s all.  I feel like I have gone on and on here.   Like the Lord of the Rings ending.   Like a politician.   Like a go for broke lawyer on the losing end of a case.  Like Herm Edwards after a Chiefs loss.  Sometimes you just have to say, “when in rome”.  I have no idea what that meant.   Anyway, thanks for reading and goodnight.

-Buffa

Let the games begin on another round of quick potent to the point topic firing from the southern end of St. Louis cyber space.   As The Black Keys flood the background with hardcore blues rock, I’m going to run down the list here.

Tony La Russa retirement thoughts, Day 2-Does this have any effect on Albert Pujols coming or going in the offseason?  Very little.   Look, Albert has to know Tony wasn’t going to be here forever and one day he would play for a different manager.   It’s common sense and shouldn’t get in the way of Pujols returning.  Honest thought.   While I was surprised by La Russa’s decision, it wasn’t a shock and I didn’t immediately grow weary of Albert’s status when I heard the news.   The Cardinals just won a World Series, Tony retired, Albert cried like a baby, hearts were touched but business is business and logic wins out here.   La Russa will tell Albert to stay put and that will be the only effect.  Pujols isn’t stupid enough to think he lives in a world where he would have one manager his entire career.  Pujols knows where he wants to play and will make a decision.   That is all it comes down to.   Pujols will miss La Russa but be able to perform to his standards under a new manager, especially if his name begins with Jose.  These guys are professionals.  They can handle it.

Possible  Suitors for Cardinals vacant managerial post-Jose Oquendo gets the the first interview if you ask me.   Jose has the complete respect of the team and its core players like Pujols, Molina, Carpenter and Wainwright.   Oquendo has put in his time here and is a sharp baseball mind with leadership to offer and many pearls of wisdom to share.  He interviewed for many open posts the past few years and came back here every time.   Jose put in 12 years as a player here and has coached third base for 12 years.   He is a defensive wizard who will expect the best out of any player, superstar or utility bat.   He is the most qualified for THIS job.  Experience?  Who needs experience when you have spent half your life in this city?  Here’s a bit for the experience junkies.   4 of the 8 teams in the postseason this year were led by first time managers, including Ron Washington and Ron Roeneke, two managers the Cards defeated.  Oquendo is legit and has waited his turn here.  He at least gets an interview.  Any hiring is a risk.   Finding a manager is like drafting in the NFL.  You do your homework, calculate the odds, and choose.   Its a hail mary toss either way.

After Jose, it’s a three legged horse on the open market between Terry Francona, Jim Riggleman, and John Maddon.  Bobby Valentine steps into Busch Stadium as a candidate and I will shoot him on sight.  Francona managed the Red Sox for 8 years, won 2 World Series titles but left in turmoil after his team literally quit playing in September and rumors came to the surface that players ate snacks and played video games during games.   Francona is a smart respected manager and he’ll get a look.  Rigglemen spent time on the Cardinals major league staff and Memphis coaching staff throughout his career, and managed the Washington National until midway through the 2011 season, when he was denied a long term contract and he quit.  Rigglemen did a fine job there but was being set up to be fired win or lose.   He chose his dignity over slumming the rest of the year.   Maddon manages the Tampa Bay Rays but has a year left on his deal and has always liked the Cardinals.  Either one of these guys works and has pedigree, but Jose gets my early vote.

It’s amazing how things change in a week.   Last Monday, the Cards were down 3-2 in the World Series.   Last night, La Russa is discussing retirement with David Letterman and David Freese is bumping shoulders with Justin Bieber on Jay Leno.   Wow.

A Better Life DVD Review-A powerful little indie film about one man’s survival pledge for his son in the harsh economy of Los Angeles.   Demian Bichir stars at Galando,an illegal immigrant who spends his days as a low pay making landscaper with dreams of opening his own business and making a better life for his son.   Any father can appreciate and admire this tale about fathers and sons.   Bichir is amazing in the lead role, injecting Galando with a world weary attitude and toughened outlook.   While we feel sorry for his situation, Bichir never lets the action turn into pity.   This man is strong and only wants to do better.   If you have a son, all a father wants is for that son to do better in this world.   I think of it as a pitcher leaving a game and handing the ball to a younger version of himself, daring him and wanting him to do better. Galando gets the opportunity to run his own show, but things fall apart fast and he is fighting at the same time to keep his son out of local LA gangs.  The end is bittersweet and deeply provocative.  A scene between Galando and his son, Luis, in a room at the end is one of the most heart wrenching moments in a film all year.   One man looking into the other’s eyes, asking for forgivness and a promise.   A Better Life is a fine gem of a film and promises something for the whole family.   It carries a message that never dies.   There is a scene near the end of the film where Luis asks Galando why parents have kids and why he was born if his mother took off early in his life. Galando tells him he had him because in the end when there is nothing left to live for, a son gives you hope.  He wanted something to life for and Luis was that something.   Powerful stuff that doesn’t leave the head so fast.

What Gets on My Nerves-Being second guessed by old guys in my warehouse.   That’s right.  Generally, Old guys think young guys suck.  They miss 1975 or want to get back to 1820.  It’s the natural law of making it past 60 years of age.  The Clint Eastwood condition in full effect.  Every time I tell this guy at my plant something, he thinks in his head, “Who does this young dude think he is?”   I hate repeating myself for a third time but I hate even more being second guessed.  When somebody thinks I am lying to them about something just for kicks.   Old guys do this.  They can’t get through their head that this is a young man’s world and they are still living in it.  I told this guy the location of a product in the warehouse and minutes later I hear him telling another worker, “You know, I asked Dan where it was, he told me it was right here, and I don’t see it, damn it”.   It was right in front of him.  Fucking old guys.   Yes, the greater percentage of guys who do this are a lot older than me.  When you get to be fossilized, it’s time to start listening and resist the second guessing.   Rule of thumb for any Lee Marvin fans out there.

Here’s another team that won’t ever win a Super Bowl with current roster intact.  The San Diego Chargers, who blew a late comeback away and lost to the Chiefs last night 23-20.   Every year, the Chargers are mentioned in Super Bowl pick chats and I laugh.   First thing, Phillip Rivers isn’t a big game quarterback and constantly suffers from Tony Romo Choke syndrome.    Second, Norv Turner teams tend to choke big time.   Third, the Chargers can’t put together solid consistent streaks of play.   They aren’t hard to beat on a big stage, which makes them Super Bowl non factors.

Matt Sebek Tweets-A St. Louis fellow who loves to dish sharp sarcastic humor that you could slice with a knife on the Twitter boards.  I use Twitter mainly to follow local sports writers breaking news and celebs crazy comments, but Sebek is a freak of nature when it comes to shedding an original light on fresh stories.

A Sprinkling of Sebek genius here with a few of his tweets-

-Armed only with an AM radio and a cooler of Molson Ice, Tony & Colby Rasmus share a tender embrace on a frozen Toronto pond.

-(On Tony’s retirement)This, of course, opens the door for Albert Pujols as the first St. Louis player/coach since Darryl Doran.

-One has to wonder how La Russa’s retirement will affect the career path of future tiny, white, substandard middle infielders.

-Speculation aplenty about today’s 9am Cardinals presser. Clearly, it’s to name Jason Motte the closer for 2011.

-Dan Lozano reps Pujols, Alex Rodriguez and now, Carlos Beltran. He’s either aligning his chips or forming another Menudo

-Loved the beard, but I’m happy to see that Lance Berkman has his lesbian look back.

-Cardinals broadcasting car just went by. Dan McLaughlin was not driving.

Sebek is a STL sports blogger who likes to mix it up and throw darts at sports types.  Love the guy.  A solid tweet can be a mood boost after a long work day.

Conan O’ Brien returns to New York(the scene of his first 10 years on at the Late Night Show on NBC) this week to do a week of shows at the Beacon Theater.   A homecoming parade for Conan, who has enjoyed a fine first year on TBS and cleared out the late night spot the cable network all by himself.  While Letterman and Leno get high profile stars like Johnny Depp, David Freese(haha), George Clooney and Tony La Russa, Conan gets character actors, indie bands and does his own original thing.  Conan is the kind of guy who would book Nick Punto or Daniel Descalso and kill it better than Leno or Dave, who seem tired and bored these days.   Conan would let Punto shred his suit or tell Descalso to show him what D-Money means.   Part of the reason he’ll always have a job on late night is his willingness to be self deprecating.

George Carlin on God-Look folks, this is pure personal opinion and not meant to be a shot at anyone.   George and I think alike on this subject and we do so by presenting plausible arguments, something a lot of religious people can’t seem to do when I am catching God talk to my face.   You can’t escape these people.   They want you to feel their beliefs inside and out.  I don’t want any part of it.  So I come here and present my case, along with the late yet great George Carlin.    George prefers to believe in the sun and Joe Pesci, and there’s an explanation behind this.   I believe in what I see, because as Carlin points out, it really helps the credibility factor.   Listen to the whole clip and don’t cut it short because it doesn’t align with your thoughts.   It’s not supposed to.   Everyone can’t agree with your idea and if you can’t protect your beliefs with a steel shield, what is the use in having them?   Scroll and click, and then we will move on.

http://youtu.be/gPOfurmrjxo

For me, that’s the perfect way to end a rant.  A little rant on GOD.   For all the people who may of been offended, you didn’t HAVE to read it.  Simple as that.  This is an optional read.  I am not jamming this down your throat.  Pure opinion.   Anyone can do it.  I put my words on the board and back them up 100 percent.  If people can’t handle that, tell me personally and I will remove you from the list or warn you to stay away from my WordPress blog.   Taking these words personally is a bad idea unless you can handle the conversation.   Words are the best way to spark a juicy conversation and that is what laid the foundation for this civilization.  Two or more people going at it over their beliefs and what is right and wrong.  If you are up for a fight, I will bring it.  Please don’t shut me out because of what I think because that is weak my friends.  Freedom of opinion is all we have left.

Thanks for reading and goodnight.   More will come at a later time.  For now, I am shutting it down.

Sincerely,

Dan L. Buffa

As the lovely wash of a World Series title hangs in my memory, here’s some thoughts as I deal with the side effects.

Happy Halloween readers.  First shock of the day is…

Tony La Russa retires from baseball.  To me, this wasn’t a shocking move at all.  La Russa managed here for 16 seasons, won 2 World Series titles, went to the playoffs 10 times, won 3 pennants and has picked the right time to walk away from the game.   What’s a bigger high note than completing a miraculous recovery and winning the World Series.  I suggested he make his exit after this season when we were down 10.5 games in August and that was when he contacted GM John Mozelaik.  Look, its hard to fault what La Russa has done here with a wild variety of baseball teams.   He has dealth with tragedy, injury and a set of young and old ballplayers like a pro and accomplished a great amount in his long career.  Love or hate him, you can’t fault his 3 World Series titles, 6 pennants and finishing 3rd on the all time wins list.   He leaves a hole in the dugout that won’t be easy to fill.  This works for the Cards because while veterans like Carpenter, Berkman and Holliday are coming back, the team is slowly transitioning into a young talent based team.  Jon Jay, Allen Craig, Jason Motte, Fernando Salas and David Freese are all coming into bigger roles and now is a good time to introduce some new blood into the manager’s post.   It will be genuinely weird to not see La Russa stalking that dugout step during games, removing his glasses as he makes his way up those stairs for a pitching change or revel in his in game genius calls.  More on this as it develops, but as mentioned, this is a good time for La Russa to exit.   Leave when you have done it all and planted your feet as one of the best.  It’s better to leave on a high note than walk away with people speaking of your decaying existence.  My guess is he will be back in baseball soon, whether its in Chicago with his friend Jerry Reinsdorf or on the West Coast somewhere.  La Russa will have a job in the front office or get back in the dugout.  Today was his time to exit Cardinal Nation.

First Interviews for the New Job.   Third base coach and well respected former player Jose Oquendo has to be the first choice on the table.  Oquendo is highly respected by the players and the front office, and waited for the opportunity to manage this team.  Hire Oquendo and Pujols will stay for sure.   He managed a team in the World Olympics and is a smart tenured baseball mind worth putting in charge.  After Oquendo, I expect Mozelaik to make a call to Terry Francona(recently parted ways with Red Sox).  Everything is up in the air, and I respect La Russa for making the decision earlier rather than later.  Last season, he took a road trip to decide but this season the idea of a summer off hit him early enough for the team to make plans.

World Series Thoughts-Sitting on my couch on Sunday, the idea that the Cardinals had won the World Series slowly began to roll in.   Being a die hard fan, you don’t know how to let go once a season ends.  The MLB Network is showing replays of the postseason Cards games, so I found myself watching some of the highlights.   There isn’t much more to say other than the Cardinals winning it all allows a fan like myself to ease into the offseason more comfortably.  There is no rage or anger.  I am content.   I know what the Cardinals have to do and now that La Russa is retired, another interesting jaw of possibilities is thrown into motion.   The idea now is set our sights on Pujols’ contract and the inevitable calm of peace in an offseason not marked by questions yet carrying a definitive grasp of joy for a season well done.  We not only won the World Series.  The Cardinals won one of the most memorable and thrilling World Series in baseball history.  Chew on that.

The Rams Swallow the Red Pill, Beat Saints

If someone had told me The Rams would beat the Saints with ease at home yesterday, I would have tested their blood for narcotics.  Taking a 24-0 lead into halftime and only allowing a late surge by New Orleans with the game in hand, the Rams finally broke through with an overall strong team performance.  Let’s break it down in bullets.

• The Defense played very well, creating a pass rush that got to Drew Brees for 6 sacks and several hurry up throws and hits.  Those hits allowed the secondary to get an extra step and intercept Brees twice and return one for a score, the Rams first INT return for a touchdown for the season.   James Lauranitis had 10 tackles and a sack.   Chris Long had 3 sacks, each in a different quarter.  Long is capable of being a top flight DE threat in this league and showed another flash of his talent against the Saints strong offensive line.  The defense also held the Saints huge running game to 56 yards on 20 carries.
• Steven Jackson ran wild, accumulating 159 yards on 25 carries and scoring 2 touchdowns.  He also caught 4 passes for 32 yards.  This is what Jackson can do when given the space and protection.   He is one of the top 5 running backs in the league for his consistency and his resolve to make this team a winner.  He has grown into a team leader and led by example yesterday.  When he gets an extra step or a little room, Jackson can separate himself from a D-line and get big yards.  The only chance a defense has of stopping him is getting him early.   Jackson is a battering ram out there and simply wore down the Saints all day.  Look at yards accumulated over the past 5 seasons and Jackson is up there.   He has consistently put up numbers with a decaying Bulger behind center, a rookie last season and A.J. Feeley yesterday.
• Speaking of our 3.5 million making backup QB, Feeley had a mistake free game.   He threw for 175 yards and a touchdown, making Jackson the feature player on the offense and for good reason.  Filling in for an injured Sam Bradford, Feeley wisely took a supporting role.
• The Rams were 3-3 in the Red Zone, improving in a previously horrible category.   Teams win games by scoring touchdowns in the red zone.
• There were bad spots and dark holes on the day.  The Rams were penalized 9 times for 64 yards, continuing a bad trend early in the season.   There was a horrible fumble drop deep in Rams territory that the Saints returned for a touchdown in the third quarter.  Greg Salas dropped a pass that was nearly recovered.  The Rams were 5-16 on 3rd down, which only equals out to a mere 31 percent.
• Brandon Lloyd led the Rams receivers with 6 catches for 53 yards and a touchdown.   Lloyd has sparked the passing game a little in his two games and things will only get better when Mark Clayton joins the team.

Overall, a solid win that still sits this team at 1-6 nearing the halfway mark.  This team hasn’t had the easy road.  After finishing 7-9, the Rams were dealt a brutal schedule that included a 7 game death walk to start.  They have lost Danny Amendola for the season and Bradford for two games along with Danario Alexander.  Nothing has been easy, and watching this team hasn’t been pretty because of the lousy play.  Before Sunday, the Rams were plain old ugly.   Do the Rams have a shot of catching 6-1 San Francisco?  I doubt it, but it’s encouraging to see this team fall off the top draft slot for this town’s sake.   A win over the Saints makes one wish we could have pulled off the Redskins or Giants game, but we go to Arizona on a high note with Bradford hopefully making his return soon.  With the Rams, it will always be sweet and bitter.  Appreciate the effort on Sunday as the Rams took a page from the St. Louis Cardinals and went out and played their asses off.

The Blues lose their second in a row, raising more questions

The Blues continue to be a zig zag franchise, winning 3 games and then losing 2 in a row to destroy any confidence built up.   This team has scary areas of need and with the injury to Andy McDonald and pending status of David Perron, one wonders if they can improve their play enough to challenge for a playoff spot.   Right now, the playoffs are non factor.  Playing consistent hockey is key and right this moment, the Blues look rough.  Here are some points.

• Jaroslav Halak is playing bad and inconsistent hockey, but is also getting put out to pasture by a bad defense.  How many times does the opposing team come skating in with the advantage and fire willingly on Halak?  This has been the problem for years.  It doesn’t matter if it’s Manny Legace, Chris Mason or Halak.  Unless the Blues defense improves, the goalie doesn’t stand a chance.   Rather its Barrett Jackman turning over the puck or the Blues getting beat down the ice, Halak is facing a firing line every time.  Granted he hasn’t been sharp.  Allowing 4 goals on less than 25 shots is bad for business.   Halak is 1-6 with a 3.58 goals against average and a unbearable .843 save percentage.   The real question is, why is Brian Elliot faring so much better in net?  He is 4-1 with a 1.67 GAA and a shutout.  Where is the disconnect or the plug here between two goalies?  Sometimes, players go hard for one player over another.  Answers will come in time.  Halak is the 4 million dollar kid that has 3 more seasons in net here while Elliot is the go for broke 1 year veteran.   Is Halak losing focus while Elliot is sucking in every opportunity or this a matter of defense in front of the net?
• Alex Steen can’t be faulted, scoring 6 goals and netting 9 points in the first 11 games.   A two sided player who can penalty kill and possesses the best one timer on the team, Steen is making his big contract stand up in the second year.
• With the additions of Scott Nichol, Jason Arnott and Jamie Langenbrunner in the offseason, I would think the depth would be better on this team but they are still struggling to make up ground and get the first goal in games.
• The power play is stagnant at 2-39 in the first 11 games.  If this doesn’t improve, you won’t see more wins put on the board.  If you can’t score with the man advantage, how can you be expected to do so at full strength.
• The penalty kill isn’t much better, ranking near the bottom of the league in efficiency.
• The Blues aren’t ugly to watch yet they rarely put together long sustainable winning streaks.  It’s hard to generate excitement early when you produce uneven hockey.  It’s early and there are 71 games left to play but the Blues don’t look too hot right now.  Their home/road splits aren’t drastic in any direct area.  The overall level of play isn’t there yet.
• One small hint.  Play Ryan Reaves.  The kid is a born enforcer and can handle the puck as well and skate on a fourth line.  Just a small suggestion.

Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez, 24-7 on HBO

Watching these two prepare for their November 12th fight, I can’t get over the fact that Marquez doesn’t stand a chance against Manny.  Granted, the last time these two fought in 2008, many thought Marquez got the decision and not Pacquiao, who hadn’t risen to the top of the boxing world yet.   Manny has only grown in power, strength, speed and overall skill since then while Marquez has taken a step back.   These two produced two legendary battles that ended in a draw and a close decision.   That was 3 years ago.  Since then, Manny has risen to the top while fighting anybody who steps forward and he has jumped in weight class and won 8 belts in separate weight classes.   Marquez looked lost and old in a fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. two years ago, the only other time Juan had stepped up to the lightweight division.   Manny has something to prove this time.  He wants to destroy Marquez and prove to the world who is the best in the three fights.  HBO produces breathtaking sports entertainment, and 24/7 boxing is no joke.  Liev Schrieber narrates while the cameras swoop in and out of Manny’s gym in LA and Marquez’s camp in Mexico.   It’s wonderful theater, as the promo promises, “go into their lives before they go into the ring”.    This is just another useless pit stop before Manny once again waits for the cowardly Mayweather Jr. to step up and agree to a fight.  Once again, for the kids who choose to live under a rock and not pay attention, Floyd is scared of Manny.   He is afraid Manny will ruin his legacy by handing him his first loss.   Why else is there for Floyd not too fight Manny in a mega fight that would pay 20 million easily to each camp.   If Floyd is about the money, he would fight Manny.  Instead, he builds up this bullshit blood testing excuse and gets into tons of legal trouble out of the ring.   Be honest.  Floyd doesn’t care about clean boxing.  The Boxing Commission takes care of that and Manny has passed all their tests.  He agreed to Floyd’s propaganda but Floyd didn’t come to the table.  As Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum said, the fight will never happen because Floyd is afraid of Manny.  For now, we get to see Manny destroy an old foe.

My Prospects as Cardinals Manager-Since La Russa retired this morning, people have asked me should I get into the running?   I responded with a sure fire grin and a promise to produce highly candid post game press conferences and a renegade style to games.   I can only imagine myself, the youngest manager of all time, stalking the dugout steps, making pitching changes, taking wrath and smack from writers and fans.   Who is this kid?  I’d welcome it with open arms and work for what I make right now.  If I did well, then I’d accept more pay.   I would be the first in a revolutionary upheaval in sports.  Young blood.   Don’t get too excited.  Even if I donated a kidney to one of the owners and saved Busch Stadium from a fire, I would never be made manager.  I’m too young, inexperienced, and have nothing to show for experience.   Just a thought.  What If Scenario.  I’m just a fan and it will stay that way.  However, if I am called, I accept the offer.   First request from me.  Sign Albert immediately so we can get to work.

Daddy Blog Entry-Dealing with baby issues is the hardest thing about being a dad.   What is wrong and what is normal?   That’s the fight.   This week Vinny is vomiting projectile style.   This is especially bad when it happens out of nowhere.   One minute he is fine and the next he is covered in white fluid, crying and helpless.  As a parent, you take the blunt of the worrying and blame yourself and the genetic makeup.   You won’t see the doctor more than when you have a kid.  You won’t hear the phrase, “Yes, thats normal” more than when you have kids.   Everything is trauma when you have a newborn.  We are a natural born ER center at home now.   One wrong cry and we both run for the crash cart.   This isn’t complaining but only mere explaination.   I love being a dad but I warn against wannabe parents….this won’t be easy and it will be the most entertaining and original ride of your life.    Take your meds. 

NFL Sunday Quick Thoughts-

*The Cowboys will never win a Super Bowl with Tony Romo.   Complain if you can but remember what I said.   He is a choker and Jerry Jones better realize it.  Tank the rest of the season and trade up for Luck.  

*Once again, Tom Brady can be beat like any other QB if the opposing team gets consistent pressure on him.   Pittsburgh forced it and they beat the Patriots.  Beat Brady and the deal is done. 

*The Eagles won, but I still don’t believe they can beat the Packers. 

*Come to think of it, no one can beat the Packers right now. 

*Watch out for the Lions.   They lost a couple games but when they are clicking, Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson can put up points and the defense closes the gap.    Watch out Packers on Thanksgiving. 

*Mark Sanchez is a horrible regular season quarterback but a great playoff quarterback.   Weird. 

*Are the Cardinals crying for Kurt Warner yet?   Correction-Is Larry Fitzgerald crying for Warner yet?

Random Bits to close up shop-

*I’m going to the doctor today for a random checkup.   First time with our new doc.  Would it be inappropriate to not wear pants?

*Watched The Rock in Faster on Saturday.   Great action film.  One course asskicking fest.   Don’t overjudge it.   These kind of simplisitic action thrill ride that are rarely done well these days.   He plays an ex con who spends 10 years in prison after the death of his brother waiting to get released and go killing.  

Great line from the end-

Bad guy-“I created my own hell,didn’t I?”

The Rock-“And I’m the devil that crawled out of it.”

*Song to Listen to Right Now-Dawes performing “When My Times Comes”

*Final Thought-The Cardinals need to get a manager quick so Pujols can settle in and get his deal and the Cardinals can get to work.  They knew this time was coming and that Pujols would need to get paid.   If they were smart, they would have given Holliday and Pujols 8 year deals 2 years ago and been done with it.    Now, they must the manager vacancy so the Pujols talks can get wrapped up before the new year.    Less distractions the better.

That’s all folks.  Thanks for reading.

Goodnight,

DLB

Ladies and Gents,

We came, we fought and we conquered.  The Cardinals did the impossible and won their 11th World Series.   21 hours later, I am still in minor shock and awe dealing with the feeling that the team I hand my life to for 6 months a year won the prize.   A surreal and truly great feeling.   That’s 2 World Series in the last 5 years and 3 trips in the past 10.   Very solid.  Move over Phillies, the Cards carry the big stick now. 

While I will unveil a larger more compact blog later tonight or tomorrow, allow me a few thoughts as I digest dinner, play highly underrated indie band The National in the background and set up some french press coffee for an evening with a good friend.   10 Things to Point  Out and Look Forward to.

• Chris Carpenter was my unsung hero for the entire postseason.  A strong armed general that provided the team with stability.  Carpenter deserved the World MVP for his three solid controlling starts but I have no problem with Freese getting it.  Carp rescued his career with the last 3 months of his season but his postseason performance and overall numbers prove his ultimate worth.  A true beast.  His Game 5 beating of Halladay and the Phillies will go down as legendary in it’s own right.
• Freese makes for a good story.  Kid came a long way to from being an injury prone drunk to taking over the playoffs, driving in 21 runs and coming through with the clutchest hit in recent Cards history.  The fact he did in his hometown takes it to another level. 
• Lance Berkman is also a guy I feel pretty happy for.   Before the season, he called the Astros about coming back for another season or 2 to wrap things up and that he had gotten healthier over the offseason.   The Astros told him to go fuck himself.  Told him he was done, broken and worthless.   Berk called the Cards next.  Rest is history.  He stuck the ultimate stick of “told you so” serum into the Astros by putting together a great season, proving he could play right field at his age and came through with big World series hits.  Good for him.  Glad he is back in 2012. 
• While he only produced one good offensive game in the World Series, Rafael Furcal fortified the infield defense and hit very well on this team.  He came here to win a World Series, got one, and I have a strong feeling he will stay.  He means so much with a ground ball pitching staff. 
• The clock ticks on Albert Pujols now.  Will he or won’t he?  My feelings are still the same.  He has no reason to leave now.  He is king of the city and will get a good deal.  It comes down to his choice.  He put together an overall strong postseason and I don’t think he is going anywhere.  He deserves the golden deal, so hopefully the Cards provide him with one.  He is simply too good to short change.  For the people who will only offer him 3 years, you are retarded.  He is worth so much more and has earned it.  At least 5 years will be given here.  In the end, Albert will stay because the Cards have kept their promise of competing and Albert’s life, family and future are set in stone here.  Sometimes, business gets pushed to the back burner.  
• While Descalso and Jon Jay were big pieces, Allen Craig is a player who gives hope after Berkman retires after 2012.   Craig only got better with more playing time and had a great World Series.  He hits for power to all fields and also plays solid defense, as seen with his catch last night.  Like Jay, Freese and Descalso, he gives the Cards a cheap productive player. 
• The good thing this team is set up strong for next season and doesn’t need many pieces to look for in free agency.  Pujols is the main need and after he is done, where do you look for fixing?  Skip had a solid comeback season and is cheap at second where Punto or Descalso can share time.   Furcal will come back for cheap.   Freese, Holliday, Jay, and Berkman are set.  Molina will get a deal and stay put.  Wainwright’s options are picked up and set.  Westbrook and Lohse are here for another year and barring a magical deal, can’t be traded.   The bullpen is strong.  Rzep is back.  Salas, Sanchez, Lynn, Dotel and Motte are all coming back.  I like this team’s chances to return to the playoffs in 2012 with or without Pujols, but I’d like the Mang’s services rendered and returned.
• McClellan’s job has to be in jeapardy with Lynn and Dotel coming up big.  K-Mac was solid for 4 seasons yet started to wore off after his return to the pen in August.
• Tony La Russa will be back because the Cards will be a veteran led team next year.  For one more year at least, we will be subject to La Russa’s brutal mind draining genius.  
• Of all the returning young soldiers, Motte is the one I’m looking forward to the most.  He brings so much and has come a long way from his early propane fused arrival.   His secondary pitch is improved and the location of his fastball is nearly pinpoint.  He has the chance to be a lockdown closer for a long time if he strangles the job and continues to pitch lights out.   He pitched very well under the harsh lights of the postseason, which is a huge test for a kid like The Motte.  Motte can provide this team with the first old school heater based closer since Bruce Sutter and at a low price.  If we are to hand Pujols millions, we will need to get production from the cheap end in certain areas.   This team carries plenty of it. 

If there is one thing this team did in 2011, they redefined the idea of “out of the race”.   They recovered from 10.5 games out with a month to play and won it all.   An inspirational group of ballplayers who proved, it’s never over until the fighting is completely done.   I’ll never forget this season for everything that it was.  Frustrating, entertaining, exciting, awe inspiring, maddening and ultimately successful.   Game 6 is never leaving the memory.  The 2011 Cardinals provided the best 7 weeks of baseball I’ve ever seen.   If we learned anything here, it’s that giving on your team with a month to play is a useless activity because in sports, you never know what can happen with the right performance from every area of a team.   I’ll never look at this team the same again.  That’s my lesson.

*Fun Fact-In 1982, when I was born, The Cardinals won the World Series.   My son Vincent was born on September 14th, 2011 and the Cardinals won the World Series 45 days later.   Connections are real and intact.  Vinny gave this team a surge right when they needed something extra, or I am just being a proud dad bragging about his kid.

That’s all I have for now.  Out of time.  Digest and prep for more.  Tonight’s menu includes watching the Rock kick ass, beer intake and hanging with Vinny.  Dos Equis Amber included.

Goodnight,

Buffa
excited, mentally drained yet content to relax

Here is more on the season after a chat with friends-Sunday, 1230 pm

As I just wake up here after a semi wild night of drinking with friends and being up here and there with Vinny during the night, allow me to load up the gun and fire back.  
Drinking is possible with a newborn IF you have a great partner for a wife and two awesome friends who aren’t baby phobic.  Last night, I stayed thirsty with both Dos Equis Original and Amber. 

Pujols and Free Agents on the team
I don’t think I’m being over ambitious here.  If Skip wants more than 1-2 million a year for having a down year offensively from when he got his 2 year deal, I say cut him loose and insert Daniel Descalso who can do nearly as well for a lot less money.   Furcal had a horrible year offensively and can’t ask for more than 5-6 million a year, which the Cardinals can afford.  He is so important because of the way he changed the infield defense and he did improve the leadoff spot on this team.  If he commands a lot, you cancel his Visa and tell him to fuck off.  My feeling is he will stay here for not much money at all.   Dotel is a pitcher I like a lot, and loved when he came here in the Colby trade.  He shuts down righties(very good righty bats like Braun) and is a keeper.  His return has to cancel K-Mac’s and I am fine with that.  Pujols will be a good sign?  Jimmy, are we talking about the same player who has produced 11 magical seasons and stayed pretty damn healthy for those 11?  Why is he only a good sign?  He’s played 11 seasons for way under market value, less than your favorite player Holliday and he is only a good sign.  Once again, he deserves the golden deal and if he wants 5-7 years, I fucking hand him it on a silver platter with some salsa.  Who else deserves it?   The thing I have grown tiresome to me is Pujols’ age.  Why is he so suspected?  When 9/11 happened, every foreign baseball player was checked thoroughly and cleared.  Pujols goes back home to Dominican Republic every offseason and has the same VISA if he was older or not.  Why is this an issue?  Is it because Miguel Tejada was found to be a couple years older?  Well, guess what, his baseball ability is also 5 years older and done.  Pujols’ play hasn’t dropped and he stays in good shape.  It enrages me when people think he is 35 or 38 years old.  You know I say, prove it.  You know I question.  Russian hockey players like Ovechkin.  Where’s his passport at and his age?  Why is it that we only suspect Latin America players of age?  How old really was Ryan Franklin in spring training this year?  38 or 58 years old?   Albert Pujols is the age he says he is until….something can be proved in a court of law.   The Pujols rant had to be happen because I deal with people at work who suspect him of his age and it bothers me.   In the end, if the crowd seriously needs dirt on the man, no matter how old he is, as long as he stays productive(pretty nice “off” year in 2011), you pay him his money.   He is the face of the Cardinals and has done very well with his time in St. Louis.  A charity Robin Hood and a Ruth on the field.  Why is it hard to hand him the golden deal?  Skip, Dotel and Furcal are debatable.   Albert Pujols is not.   I have said this for years.  If Pujols wants to stay, he will stay.  He is the pilot of his own flight and control his own destiny.  No matter what he says, he calls the shots in his career, with or without an agent.  Hopefully, the Cards make it easy and offer him a deal that rivals Ryan Howard’s at the very least.  I have said this many times.  The Cards knew this day was coming and had to get themselves ready for it.   Come on now.  This is simple economics.  A smart team would have set him up with Holliday and lock down the future 3-4 spots of your lineup at once.  When asked last night about the Pujols situation and if he is staying I said this, “If you owned a piece of gold, would you let it walk away?”

I guarantee you that Holliday will come back with a fury in 2012.  For having missed 38 games, his 2011 stats were solid and he played on 2 sore legs for a month.  Ask any local sportswriter and no one is more respected in the Cards clubhouse than Holliday.  He plays the game hard and paid for it this year.   Before 2011, he never missed that much time to injury, averaging 155 games per season in his 6 year career.  Jimmy, you knock him and that’s your right, but I will say in stone that Holliday is a bargain in left after Crawford and Werth’s deals, and backs it up with his play.   However, Allen Craig provides a comfy backup plan if Holliday or Berk are hurt in 2012.

Also, Berkman has one more year left in him.   Unless he duplicates what he did last season, you can’t keep paying him 9 million a year.  He was great and I’m happy for him, but the best case scenario for this team is him in right field sharing time with Allen Craig.   Berk missed time this year to injury and doesn’t have 3-4 years left anywhere on the field.  He is an insurance body for Pujols but I’d rather see him playing 130 games in right field.  He proved he can play the outfield at his age in 2011.

Bullpen
Bring back Dotel and the group is solid.  Motte’s motion is dangerous, but he proved how effective he can be under the monsterous pressure of the postseason light.  This was his test and he passed it with flying colors.  He has the look, ability and age(how old is he behind that beard??).   His arm angle and motion are rough to say the least, but if he does miss time, Lance Lynn backs him up in the closer role.   The Cards, for the first time in years, have lots of great hard throwing arms in the bullpen in Sanchez, Lynn and Motte.  Salas is a key part and so is Rzep with ability to pitch more than a single inning.   Rhodes may come back for more dancing but I’m not thrilled about it.

La Russa will guide this ship until he decides to leave.  That’s been the rule since his arrival.   He stays until he wants to go.  You can’t argue with the results.   10 playoff appearances, 3 World Series trips, 2 titles, lots of great runs.   He can suck the ability out of a roster but also put it to good use.  While I wouldn’t cry over his departure, I’m fine with another dance as long as there are meds to take.

Game 6 was legendary.  The scoreboard would have made it bearable for everyone.  The best thing about those days were the surrounding support on the board.  We were shrinks for each other.   Those were the days.  I would have needed a horse to get home for all the alcohol and words sent in and out of my mouth.

Wrapping the head around a magical run will take time.   I am sitting here, talking about team without the true knowledge that THE ST LOUIS CARDINALS ARE WORLD SERIES CHAMPS.  You see, it still doesn’t sound right…yet.   To me, we are still complaining and explaining as usual.   A few days from now I’ll understand that our team went on a magical run that started around September 14th and ended on October 28th.   45 days of great baseball that I will never forget.  Vinny has stories for a long time.
“Vinny, this would be the night that La Russa failed to remember who was throwing in the bullpen”
“This is the night where Carpenter shut down the opposition”
“This is the night where a former drunk and dropout David Freese lit up St. Louis.”
“Albert Pujols is a God among men.”

Troy’s sister Bianca told me he was up there making things hard on us just like old times, but that he would bring out a happy ending.   He is truly missed today.   I would have loved to include him in the text-email chain gang.

Fuck anyone who attempts to take our title away in 2012.  I like our chances.   Kudos to Ron Washington and the Rangers.  I don’t have a bad word for that team.   Except for Nolan Ryan needs to lose weight and the camera needs to stay away from his face.

So long because it’s time for breakfast,

Buffa