Didn't come from Barry Bonds and steroids. Nor did they come from Kieth Hernandez and cocaine.

Apparently, they came from Pirate the Parrot (Pittsburgh's mascot), cocaine dealer in the MLB's 1985 Drug Scandal.

Honorable Mention from the article: No-hitter pitched while the pitcher was on LSD.



Focus: What's a good caption for this picture?

I was about to go to bed the other night when I received an e-mail notification of a Myspace message.  I was about to dismiss it as a potential porn bot, until I checked the message.  Turns out that it was from someone who worked at Boy Scout Camp with me when I was in High School.

Those of you who have read my book (mad_skillz) might remember a "Tom Collins" character.  Those of you who aren't privy to my escapades, well, here's a little excerpt.  When I was 16, I went to a restaurant ("Olde Hickory Brewery") and started ordering beer.  And I got it.  This was no ordinary restaurant, either.  Nay, verily, the patrons could sit in a booth which was a massive wooden beer keg.  I took home a gallon jug of beer with me for the road.  I think I might have had more college friends when I was in high school than I had actual high school friends (which wasn't that many).

Anyway, Tom Collins is a Cubs fan.  Even being from St. Louis, I have to admire Cubs fans.  The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908 and haven't appeared in a World Series since 1945.  The curse upon the Cubs is even greater than the curse upon the Red Sox.

You think the Bill Buckner incident is bad?  How about a kid catching a "foul" ball at the Playoffs?

Yet, despite all this, the Cubs fans are some of the most loyal, dedicated fans in baseball.

With that said, I got to thinking about the demographics of certain baseball teams, particularly after seeing the "United States of Baseball" picture (you can view it below the cut if you missed it).  Certain teams have more massive followings than others.  But more importantly, certain teams seem to have popularity among different demographics than other teams.

Chicago has two baseball teams:  The White Sox and the Cubs.  Not only do there seem to be more Cubs fans in general, but they seem to come from wealthier backgrounds (Great Example:  "Trixies".  Just look at the logo for the Rudius Media writer "TheTrixie").  The White Sox, on the other hand, seem to appeal to the urban crowd.

Looking at the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry for a second, I seem to notice a lot of Yankees fans (and they are by far the most obnoxious fans out there) among minority groups and "urban" crowds.  Red Sox fans seem to be coming from a more upper-class background.  And thus, they are not as damned obnoxious as your average Yankees fan.

Another thing that I never really thought about until I moved to the South was "Why do you cheer for a certain team?".  Being from St. Louis, the only sports team to cheer for is the Cardinals.  It's in the city, so it's obvious.  If you don't live in St. Louis proper, you cheer for the closest team, right?  (Refer to the map)

The same should refer to college football, college basketball, etc.  You cheer for the school that you actually go to, right?

Well, that was until I moved to the South and met "Wal-Mart Fans". 

I found the quintessential Wal-Mart fan at the Tangerine Bowl in 2001.  I traveled to Orlando to watch the NC State Wolfpack play someone or other (they lost).  I'll leave out the details of the road trip (as an aside: I'm famous on The Wolf Web), but we met this hick named "Pu".  Pu had absolutely no affiliation with the university whatsoever.  After buying a ticket, he just went to Wal-Mart, bought a whole bunch of NC State stuff, and dubbed himself a Wolfpack fan.  I doubt he had the intelligence to get into ANY college, much less this college.  But there he was, in the midst of the cheering.  Well, he wasn't cheering so much as he tried to incite a riot with the rival fans (again, this is another story for another time).  By the way, it's an almost universal rule that Wal-Mart fans are 10x more obnoxious than the students who actually attend the university. 

This guy had absolutely no reason to cheer for NC State, but there he was cheering for them?  What makes a person cheer for a team that's not in their area, or that they have no affiliation with?

Focus:  What teams do you cheer for?  Are they in your area?  Did you attend the school for the team?  Are you forced to pick between two teams in one area?  What makes you pick one team over another, or a team you have no affiliation with?  Do certain teams appeal to certain demographics?  And why the hell do you see people all over the place with UNC hats on?

With any luck, I should be finding a place to live this week and moving in.  This means not much updating for a little while.  Which may or may not be a good thing, who knows.

Anyway, links for the week.  And don't forget to subscribe to my feeds on the right-hand side of this page.  I think my Google Reader feed is the best, however. 

• All Europhiles should enjoy this game:  European Tetris.  Place the countries on the map as they fall down.  I didn't know where San Marino was and was confused about Malta.  Woe is me.  Which means that maybe it's time to visit. 
  
• It takes a supreme jackass to tarnish one of sports' greatest records, but Barry Bonds has done it.  Here's a comparison between Barry Bonds and Darth Vader. 
  
• Brilliant photo shoot of abandoned military bases in California.  It never ceases to amaze me how much stuff the military has owned and currently owns. 
  
• The 50 Greatest Commercials of the 1980s
• 15. Tootsie Pop
  How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop? Perhaps a better question is, Kid, why the hell are you naked?
• The Meyers-Brigg Personality Test as applied to comic-book heroes.
• RECREATION: ISTPs are happiest when they are building and constructing--either new weapons to smite their enemies, or new plots to destroy those who oppose them. They have a very industrial sense of aesthetics, and can spend hours absorbed in the appreciation of works of art such as a 1969 Hemi Cuda retrofitted with missile launchers and ejection seats.
• Instant Messaging with Mom
  

Pic of the Week:

The United States of Baseball:

I'm currently in exams.  We had a 4-hour exam today and we have an 8-hour exam tomorrow.  More to follow. 

However, before exams, a few of us were talking about baseball.  Many of you remember a captain I refer to as "The Senator" as a result of this story.  Today, the Senator was discussing how well his Yankees were doing, particularly Alex Rodriguez, who, if he keeps up his current hitting pace (after only 20 or so games this season), would be on track to hit something like 120 home runs and 300 RBIs this season.

For a person cheering for a team that currently has a .444 winning percentage (St. Louis), this was frustrating.

I guess it was frustrating for someone whom I presume is a Red Sox fan.  He gave the typical reply to any of the Yankees' successes..."That's the New York Yankees for you.  The best team that money can buy".

"Wait, hold on", said the Senator, "you realize that the US Army is the best Army that money can buy.  I mean, you don't go around Iraq or Afghanistan saying 'You know, I think it's unfair that we have all these night-vision goggles and body armor and aircraft'.  I would say that logically, hating the Yankees means hating US Army"

I will admit, the guy does have a point...