Random Wednesday

Bonds and Clemens? Heck Yeah!

Would you vote Barry Bonds into the baseball Hall of Fame?

How about Roger Clemens?

The National Baseball Writer's Association of American released today its 2013 Hall of Fame ballot and Bonds and Clemens are among this year's new candidates. Among the many names, new and leftover candidates, joining the scandal-plagued duo are Aaron Sele, Rondell White and Todd Walker.

Seriously!

Nothing against those guys. They each had stellar careers, but not what I would consider Hall of Fame worthy.

I'm not a big Hall of Fame guy, but when considering whom I might vote for, if I had a vote, I like employing the wife test. It's a good indicator, but definitely not the exclusive, end-all text. If my wife doesn't know a player, that's a strike against them.

My wife has no idea who Todd Walker is. I barely remember him.

But she does know Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Those guys, despite the alleged performance enhancing drug use, belong in Cooperstown.

I know it’s a tired argument to say they both had HOF numbers before they turned, we suppose, to PEDs, but it's true.

And, yes, you can say they cheated the game, particularly Bonds and his destroying the all-time home run record.

But the truth Bonds and Clemens were outstanding, all-world baseball players. They both dominated in their sport.

Say what you will about the ethics of the performance enhancing drug use. Should that be considered in the voting? On some level, I guess it should.

However, Bonds and Clemens, PED use or not, where great ballplayers who deserve to be recognized with baseball's highest honor.

Damn you, Angel Pagan. Because of you, I'm hooked on Taco Bell's Doritos Locos Tacos. You remember Free Taco Tuesday, right? Taco Bell ran a promotion during the World Series stating if any player stole a base during the series, the restaurant would give away a free Doritos Loco Taco. Sure enough, Pagan swiped second in Game 2, and I loaded my wife and kids and into the car and drove straight to Taco Bell on giveaway day. We weren't expecting much, but those things were/are delicious. Taco Bell gave away the regular Doritos Locos Tacos, but I recommend upgrading to the supreme. Should Taco Bell send me a check for this advertisement? Yes. Yes, it should.

Out goes Maryland; in comes Louisville: To the ACC, that is. I know Maryland is one of those traditional ACC schools and many hate to see the university leave for the Big 10. But you gotta believe this swap, Louisville for Maryland, is a win for the ACC. Right? That's especially true when you consider football and basketball. And really, what other sports are considered in these near-daily conference realignments? Maryland has had success in hoops, but they don't bring much to the table football wise. Louisville, on the other had, is steadily becoming a football power of sorts to go along with its basketball team, which usually ranks high in the top 25 polls. The Cardinals are currently ranked fifth in the AP Top 25 hoops poll.

And look, I know everything revolves around football – it's the money maker – but I really like how the ACC is shaping up once again to be a basketball powerhouse conference. Already the conference has North Carolina, Duke and North Carolina State, all of which are in the current AP Top 25, and then next year it adds Pittsburgh and Syracuse, and then Louisville comes along shortly. And then there's talk of possibly adding the University of Connecticut, but the decision by the ACC to add Louisville may have bumped UConn for the moment. Oh, don't forget Notre Dame soon will be a conference foe for ACC basketball members.

Fulham has to get a win today at Chelsea. After a nice start to the season, Fulham has had a tough go of it at late. Here's hoping Martin Jol's club can put together a good 90 minutes today at Stamford Bridge. I almost took the day off to watch the match on Fox Soccer, but next week is my wife's birthday, and to keep in good standing, I'm taking off that day instead. #comeonfulham

Kill the Podcast App Now!

Who at Apple decided it was a good idea to develop a separate app for podcasts? @#$%! I drive more than two hours a day too and from work, and I listen to a lot of podcasts, and this app has totally ruined my listening experience. Many times I think I have downloaded podcasts only to find those are not in my library. Where'd they go? Heck if I know. I guess using iTunes for podcasts was way too easy, so someone decided if it's not broke, let's try to fix it. Come on, Apple. Get your stuff together or Steve Jobs may come back punch someone in the neck.

Oh My Goodness Gracious. Andy Pettitte is coming back. At least that's what I'm seeing on my Twitter feed. According to a CBS Sports tweet, the lefty has signed a one-year deal for $12 million. Tonight's Powerball winner is going to look at that and laugh.

By the way, I love Tottenham's all-white look at White Hart Lane. Hotspur lead Liverpool – don't ya just hate Liverpool? – 2-0 in the 29th minute as I write this.

The quote of the day  month  year comes from Cleveland Cavaliers coach Byron Scott who had this to say after his team's loss 91-78 loss to Phoenix Monday night:

"Andy Varejao was fantastic. Everybody else sucked tonight."

Ok, I gotta stop writing and post this before all the above gets old.