Sports doesn’t stop on holidays, it just gets harder to record.
Let me explain: when you’re at the house of one or both of your parents, the maximum amount of times you can ask for something to be recorded on their DVR is once per trip. Our one request was that my dad tape the Washington/LSU game from Saturday night, as I decided to throw a bone to my Husky girlfriend. Wait, that came out wrong. She’s actually quite fit, it’s just that she graduated from Washington and loves their struggling football program. Crap, I’m totally going to be in the doghouse for this one. Too bad I don’t know how to delete things.
Anyway, a lot happened that I missed. Let’s dive in:
— After the Giants were on National TV/Radio twice this weekend (Saturday and Labor Day), now the entire country is wondering why Juan Uribe didn’t start all year.
— It’s like the guy just wouldn’t quit swinging for the fences until he got the home crowd to legitimately chant “OOOH…REEBAY” at least once. I’m surprised it took this long.
— I’m pretty sure Jon Miller formed a pretty nasty man-crush on Dan Runzler on Friday night.
— Jon was working solo on Friday night, due to Dave Flemming going back to The City to be with his wife, who was giving birth to their third child. The first two are twin sisters named Katie and Carter Flemming. That’s right, Carter. Isn’t that the exact opposite of naming your son Madison?
— If this whole Nate Davis thing doesn’t work out, I wouldn’t mind if the 49ers took a flier on Jake Locker, UW’s multi-talented quarterback. If you’re going to get a guy who’s only comfortable in the shotgun (like a certain Urban Meyer product we all know and pity), you might as well get someone who can run away from trouble and doesn’t fear the idea of throwing a pass between defenders.
— Sorry ESPN, I just can’t seem to care about Sam Bradford’s sprained AC joint. I know, I have no soul.
— All we heard about during the beginning of training camp was how great Bear Pascoe looked. Pascoe caught a TD in the first preseason game. Pascoe was cut this weekend. Um, Scoty, if you didn’t need a tight end, why did you reach for one in the fifth round?
— Kory Sheets is officially Thomas Clayton.
— I’ve been wondering how much this Michael Crabtree holdout has had to do with the 49ers’ quarterback situation for a while, and now my worst fears were confirmed in this quote from Deion Sanders. Thanks to Mr. Maiocco (as usual):
“Yeah, they have an extra $8 million, yeah, but if he catches more balls than Jerry Rice in the first or second year. And with their quarterback situation, that’s not going to be the case. So he’s looking at real numbers. Some of these young guys never make it to the second contract. You may never get another chance.”
— Is Tom Cable in jail yet?
— One thing I did get to watch a good deal of while visiting my dad in Eureka was the US Open, where Kim Clijsters picked apart Venus Williams, 6-0, 0-6, 6-4. Only in tennis will a color commentator describe part of a match as “wackadoodle,” like Mary Carillo described the first two sets. And nowhere else will the other color analyst make fun of someone saying a word like “wackadoodle”, like John McEnroe did about two minutes later.
— Didn’t see a minute of the Giants’ 2-1, 12-inning loss yesterday. I heard Eugenio Velez score a run in the first inning, then I was out of KATA radio’s reception range (instead of 50,000 watts like KNBR, I think Eureka’s sports station has 50 watts, like my first car stereo). I could spend a paragraph complaining about the Giants’ refusal to get a cleanup hitter this season, but instead I can’t help but think about how wonderful the Jonathan Sanchez era is shaping up to be. The hitting on the road is downright comical, though. Like, my friends and I are going to joke about the 2009 Giants’ hitters the same way we do whenever the names Terry Donahue, Garry St. Jean or Joe Bugel are brought up.
— I absolutely knew the Giants would freak out after the celebration Prince Fielder led after his walkoff. It’s baseball, where getting mad at someone showing up anybody else is as traditional as cracker jacks and methamphetamine. And if anybody was going to be upset, it would be Matt Cain (who I’m pretty sure is visiting us via time machine from 1963).
— Here’s the faulty argument here, however: that Fielder shouldn’t have celebrated, nor his teammates, because they’re out of contention. Isn’t that the perfect time to celebrate? The season’s already over, you have nothing to play for, but there are still 25+ games left to play. Shouldn’t moments of fun and levity be the biggest reason why you come out to the park, or are we all just happy with losing teams turning all individual in the final months and going for stats only?
