Random thoughts 8/18

Well friends, my summer in cape cod has a few weeks left. Interestingly enough, this has been the best summer I've had in years. I went to the beach at least three or four times a week and had a great time with friends down here. Being within walking distance of the Orleans Cardinals field was convenient as well. I didn't end up working with the Cape League as much as I had anticipated but I enjoy watching baseball at this level so just watching Cardinals games was fun. This was my last chance for a summer on the cape and I made the most of it.

As for my plans come September, my employment status has been put on hold because I'm extending my vacation by a few weeks. A few friends and myself are flying out to Los Angeles to join our friend Seth on his trek back east. We're driving back and visiting five MLB Ballparks on the way. This is obviously going to be expensive but the more I think about it, the more I realize this is most likely my last opportunity to visit a few ballparks. I've been to three parks in my life: Fenway, Cellular One (formerly known as Comiskey) and Wrigley. Sitting down and watching a game with the stench of stale beer and mold not hitting my nose as I am crammed into a seat will be a welcome change (You'll notice in my writing that I am not a fan of Fenway. Tear the place down!). I plan on bringing my laptop for the trip and blogging along the way.


Here are some of my random thoughts from the sports world:


-It's been said on many occasions but what Michael Phelps accomplished the past two weeks are among the greatest I've ever seen. Greatest singular performance from an athlete. Period.
-I'll get into this in my US-Australia preview but I look forward to Dwight Howard making Andrew Bogut look like a high schooler. Bogut is widely known as an American basher and I look forward to seeing the US big men eat him alive.

-If this really is it for Curt Schilling, as he said this morning that there was a good chance of, thanks for everything. You came here to deliver a title and ended up with two and is one of the most genuine athletes to grace the Boston sports scene.

-The U.S. women's soccer team will be playing in their fourth gold medal game, an impressive accomplishment. It's a shame fans, including myself, haven't paid more attention to them.

-David Ortiz's health is starting to concern me. The only pitching I've seen him hit with any sort of consistency was Texas pitching...which I'm sure I could even make some contact with. While healthy, he could hit any pitch on any count but I haven't seen that since the injury. Obviously he is getting less pitches to hit with Manny out but it's not as though Youk is a slouch so Ortiz's lack of production against teams north of Texas worries me.

I'll be checking back in tomorrow with thoughts on the Redeem Team's performance against Spain and a preview of the second go-round with those kangaroo-loving Aussies.