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2000 Bi-Weekly Report (4-25-00)
Carmichael Challenge 2000
Today Scott Carmichael issued a challenge. Not a
challenge to the league, but a challenge to himself. If you haven't
heard anything about this recent development,
read about it straight from Scott's mouth before you
read this. You should hear him first, then me. If you've already
read his side, then by golly keep on reading.
Apparently, Scott is bored. He's bored with winning the triple crown
every year. He's bored with hitting .450 every year. So...to challenge
himself, he's going to bat left-handed for the rest of the season.
Scott is not a left-hander. He's not a switch-hitter. There is a
definite possibility that Scott is now going to suck. So...this
could probably end up being the biggest news story of the year,
if not the entire league history. There are some unresolved issues
though, that may need to be addressed.
1. Scott seems to be on the fence about whether this will be something
that will last all season or something that will go away if he sucks
too much. He claims that he's proven all he can prove (which he
has), and he says he is too competitive, which is what leaves all
these questions open. When he sucks, will his competitiveness take
over?
2. What will happen if Scott realizes that by batting left-handed,
he is starting to lose games? Scott provides nearly 60% (at least)
of his team's offense in most games, and this is by batting right-handed.
He's only 5-4 this year. What's going to happen if you take away
the .458, 14 HR, 25 RBI Scott and replace it with the .125, 1 HR,
4 RBI Scott? You'll get a team that will have no offensive power.
What if the score is 4-3, in the bottom of the fifth, with a runner
on, 2 outs, and Scott is up? Is he going to bat right-handed and
try to get the W, or will he still bat left-handed and risk the
entire team a win? I don't know. Scott would be potentially risking
himself (and others if they end up on his team a lot) a potential
playoff birth. Playoffs is the ONE thing Scott has not dominated
in this league. I don't think he should do something like this and
only do it halfway. He should either just stay right-handed, or
go completely left-handed. I wouldn't have a problem with him switch-hitting
if he didn't make the proclamation that he will no longer bat right
handed this year for all the world to see. Him deciding to switch
up the deal could cheapen the whole deal.
3. And assuming Scott doesn't do very well from the left side, someone
else will indeed probably win the MVP award. Myself, Casey, James,
and Mark are all putting up MVP-calibur numbers this year so far.
Thing is, whoever wins it this year is going to have to suffer from
the "yeah, but" syndrome. Yeah Casey, you won your first
ever MVP, BUT you only did because Scott became a less-dominant
left hander. Kind of like what happened to the Houston Rockets when
they finally won the NBA Championship, but only because Michael
Jordan retired. Not that that's Scott's fault, cause we've had many
years to beat him, but it could be a problem for other people.
I'm just saying is all. The Carmichael Challenge
is very intriguing, but it holds more than just a challenge for
Scott. Other people will be affected, whether they be his teammates
or some player hoping to beat him at his best. We'll see in the
coming weeks how everything develops.
Oh, by the way, last year's Carmichael Challenge wasn't meant to
be a challenge for Carmichael, but a challenge for those who said
they could hit Carmichael anytime anywhere.
Just so you know.
Still...wouldn't it be scary if Scott was STILL
just as dominant from the left-side. Shit, that would be surreal.
Scatch Maroo Debuts New Column
In case you haven't read it, a fellow by the name of Scatch Maroo
recently wrote a column
for us. Simply a fan of the site, Scatch went to great lengths to
write on his observations (as a fan who has never seen us in person)
of what we are like. Apparently, not many people in the league were
happy with his thoughts. Among his thoughts were that Eric Christensen
looked like a retard on the site's banner, Mickey Kendall looked
like a pedophile, and James Vassar looked like a rat. A few players
took umbrage with his words. Problem is, Scatch has expressed interest
in writing further columns for us. I'm sure as hell not gonna stop
him because he takes a load off my back (and I find some of his
stuff kinda humorous). He seems more than willing to pump out the
occasional column and it doesn't appear that he is going to take
it easy on us anytime soon. My suggestion to those who are offended
is to take it with a grain of salt and realize that he's just messing
around, trying to get ya riled up. Pretend he's writing about someone
else and maybe you'll realize that he's actually a pretty funny
guy. Or not. Whatever.
Playoff News
--Jeff Morrison went 2-2, dropping him from the undefeated list.
He is now 8-2 and still in first place.
--Terry remains 4-1 after taking the day off, and is tied for first
with Jeff.
--James had three big wins on the 22nd, going 3-0 and improving
himself to 5-4.
--Scott went 2-1, on the second straight day, improving to 5-4.
News and Rumors
--Josh Bartholomew made his rookie debut, giving us yet another
rookie to add to the crop. He struggled, leaving with an enormous
20.00 ERA and a cool 1-16 effort from the plate. However, that one
hit...grandslam off of Scott Carmichael. Look for Josh's player
profile after he makes it out for a second time. Two other "guys"
were supposed to be out there as well, giving us an unprecedented
8 rookies on the year, but these "men" didn't show. No
explanation was given. Hint: One guy was supposed to break the color
barrier (and seems like he's supposed to EVERYTIME we play since
last year), and the other guy maintains a softball site (that you
can locate in our links
page) that was supposed to be updated with pictures and profiles
last Saturday. We're still waiting for the update, and I doubt anyone
really gives a damn if either guy shows up now.
--Mickey Kendall told a couple players that he was
going to miss April 22nd's gameday because of an "emergency
trip to Santa Barbara". I've NEVER in my life heard of an emergency
trip to Santa Barbara. What was the emergency? I was never told,
but I doubt it was an emergency. I also doubt that I care. But apparently,
he told the guys that he REALLY wanted to play wiffleball, so I
feel a LOT better.
--I'm sorry, but both Derek Byrd and Mark Montgomery
are impressing me big-time with their defense. Derek may be only
hitting .17something, but his D is simply outstanding so far this
year. So many plays have been made by both players. They both make
anything hit in their general direction seem routine.
--Speaking of great plays, go vote for the top plays
of April in Movie
Central. Please?
--This league will have to be on the look out for
a new field for the coming season. Greg Creighton's talking about
retiring after the season's over and if he does, we would then have
NO link to our current field, unless Terry or Joey moves back in.
Plus, even if Greg wasn't retiring, with the current ideas for next
year's season, it would prove to be VERY difficult to play at the
Sac for much longer.
--People have been asking me for the reason Donnie
hasn't been around much and hasn't written an article since March
17th. Well...Donnie's actually pretty busy with his current work
on "One Life to Live" and hasn't had a whole lot of time
to write. He promises though that he's been following the page thoroughly
and is working on a future column. Soquityerbitchin!!!
--Someone told me awhile ago that there were a lot
of hidden links on this page. I wonder if he's right...
--Amber Neves recently had a sit-down with Joey Creighton and Mark
Montgomery regarding her stance on the "women in the league"
issue. She was all for it and, again, was looking forward to playing
topless out at the Sac. Is it just me or is every girl I've talked
to LYING about this topless deal? I mean...nevermind. More on this
as it "develops".
--See ya.
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