Hitting the Wall....

SO it appears that I've hit the wall, run out of things to talk about, and its such a fine morning for it too with the downpour washing over the city of New York. This was bound to happen eventually, that's the price when you're a one man gang, trying to bring something new and fresh every day even when nothing new or fresh is happening.

No, that's not the wall I've hit, though I HAVE been thinking a lot about baseball the past few days. This is one of the more disturbing sights that's come out of the game I love though. I just found this photo this morning, and I'm pretty positive that's Gary Sheffield pinning Bubba Crosby to the wall there.

I'm not sure which is more upsetting.... the fact that I can recognize that its Crosby smashed in there from the look on his face, or that it looks like Shef is doing this purposely.

Most of the time life feels like this right here, pushed up against a glass barrier that isn't going to move, yet forces and the places you want to go push you right up against it anyway. Right now I'm just glad I blew this picture up.... don't lie, it caught you too, I think its that eye of his staring at you that does it. This is what Poe was talking about, what drove ole boy to cut up that old man and stuff him under the floor boards.... its that eye....

Sometimes life takes it all out of you, or you give it all you've got until you're brought to your knees. I'd bet this woman here left it all out on the field, pushed until she had nothing left. Those are the ones I admire, not talent, not winning, it's that drive, the WILL to win....

I used to have that once. The real difference is passion.... that desire for something so deep that you can't live without it, that you put everything into getting it. For the first time I really saw what that meant this week.

When I die, all I want is to be able to look back and honestly tell myself that I gave it my all, life that is, that I left it all on the field. I haven't been doing that though, not really. That's going to have to change.

That sounds like some good advice, doesn't it? Some real inspirational stuff right there, the stuff that drives you, gets you going. My father came from that school of thought.... FIGHT THROUGH IT!!!

Except that its counterintuitive. Much of life is that way, our natural instincts tell us to do the exact opposite of what the situation actually requires. When you're about to get hit you naturally tense up, brace for impact, but its that tension that actually causes you to get hurt. Being loose and giving yourself the ability to absorb the blow is what gets you out of there in one piece. Again, that's the balance of the universe, the yin and yang of it.

This is what happens when you use raw power to try to smash through barriers.

I had just finished reading the 33 Strategies of War, another by Robert Greene. I've become a big fan of his. While it wasn't as good as the 48 Laws of Power, and that's possibly because much of it is based on The Art of War, which I know well already, its still a great read with a lot of lessons for everyday life.

These are the exact type of challenges that the book deals with, knowing WHEN to tear down walls and when those walls are keeping the bad men out. It deals with knowing when to use will power and brute force, and when to use speed and finese.

Speed and finese didn't work out so well for this guy now, did it?

Those last two shots were people trying to get passed that wall with the benefit of the best that money can buy, and they still didn't have what it took. When you're driving an old jelopy its an entirely different ballgame, you can't rely on pure performance... things have to fall your way...

Or this is what you get. Yeah... I've ended up here too many times. And you have too from what I've been hearing. Haven't we all?

This is the exact kind of treatment I try to avoid, and the more I try to avoid it, the more it seems to find me. Again, counterintuitive.

That's why it may be a good thing that I'm at the base of the wall. Maybe its time to focus on the important things in life....

That's Candice Swanepoel, now that I know she's a Yankee I think she may be the perfect woman.

With all this talk about Jose Reyes leaving the Mets for the Marlins its gotten back into looking into the game. I ended up buying Moneyball yesterday and started to read it finally, and its been great already.

If you're a baseball stat guy (and I am) you have to look at Slugging percentage. Last year the top 3 teams in Slugging in each league all made the playoffs. The other team that made it to the dance in both leagues led the pitching category in slugging against. OPS, or slugging plus on base percentage.... its the only stat that really counts. You can predict who will win based on that alone.

That there is Jose Reyes, formerly the Mets best player. I hate the Mets, but not because of the team itself, but their fans. They're the type of ignorant asses that are so obnoxious that they make you hate everything that they associate with.

I'm a huge Buffalo Bills fan, and they went to the Superbowl every year that I was in High School. At the time a Jet fan told me that the Jets were better because they had won a Superbowl in 1969, some 25 years before said statement was made. I bring this up because Jet fans.... Met fans.... they're the same people, and this sort of statement is the rule with them, not the exception. I kid you not.

For that reason I can't deal with them, because they are UN-reasonable.

This here is Sandy Alderson, who is a central figure in the book Moneyball, and now the Mets GM, so it all does tie together. I actually liked the moves that he made after the Reyes defection, which will turn out to be a blessing for the team, you'll see.

And now I really can't wait to delve deep into this book. I'm even excited enough to start that virtual baseball league I love so much back up.

Izabel Goulart has nothing to do with any of this. I just found so many hot pictures of her for the archives that I had to include her somewhere in here. Besides, it really lifts things up, doesn't it, makes the whole day more cheerful.

More things having nothing to do with anything, I caught Crazy, Stupid, Love and Our Idiot Brother this weekend for a buck each from the red box. You all know how much I love the red box. They were both great movies. Crazy, Stupid, Love was just real life, solid all around. Our Idiot Brother was on the dopier side, but a nice, uplifting tale. Then again, I like stories about people, and life.

That's all for today though.

Later People!

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The Choking Boston Red Sox, the Nut Riding Sports Media and how to fix the Mets!

I'm feeling pretty incredible this morning, euphoric even, a lot like many of us do on opening day of baseball season, the day that officially rings in the end of the long winter for many of us. These feelings don't come around often, and could be gone in the next twenty minutes, so I'm going to enjoy this as much as I possibly can....

And it honestly has nothing to do with the Boston Red Sox colossal choke job. I try not to talk about sports here or that's all I would do, but for today I have to make an exception.....

It doesn't look like this is going to happen this year now, does it? The baseball season seemed to go really quickly this year, but not quickly enough for the SAWX, a team with a 160 million dollar payroll that couldn't even make it into the playoffs after holding a 9 game lead late in the year.

And while the players hang their heads in shame, and rightfully so, its not even my hatred for this team that has me giddy at the prospect of their finding themselves in the same spot I will be for the second season, drunk and beer bloated in front of my TV. Of course, I'm a HUGE Yankee fan, but that just wouldn't be the same without the Red Sox, after all, Batman needs the Joker to keep those juices flowing, and over the years of the rivalry I've grown to at least respect their fans.

 You tell me what's NOT to be respected here. What makes this such a beautiful thing to me is how Sports Media always finds their darlings and slobbers all over their nuts, only to be wrong almost every time. A lot was made this season of the Yankees ridiculous payroll, age, and lack of starting pitching, just like it always is, but any time you turned on ESPN this summer all the talk was about how the Red Sox had already won the World Series, so we might as well give it to them now.

Sometimes it's almost as if these media outlets are funded by these darling teams themselves and full of on air personalities that are no different than every other fan that thinks they know the game because they watch it all the time, when in reality, they don't know shit about shit. The Philadelphia Eagles are a prime example of this if you can remember all the Donovan McNabb CockRiding... look at him now.

Tell me rat faced Dustin Pedroia doesn't look exactly like the guy who shits himself in Trainspotting. No wonder they couldn't get it done. But I'm sure that you can come up with plenty of other examples, like any of ESPNs college football shows blowing the SEC, which only makes me want them to lose every game. Back when USC was cheating for championships the Pac 10 could do no wrong.

Why is is that you never hear about Boston's 160 Million Dollar payroll, but it's always what a genius Theo Epstein is?

Speaking of ESPN Darlings with massive payrolls that can't get it done, Jose Reyes once again proved what a gutless puke he is taking himself out of the last game of the year for personal glory. The Mets spent 120 Million on a team that finished 8 games below .500 and 25 games out, but you'll never hear about it because the powers that be over at the most powerful Sports outlet there is, the ones not sucking up Sox man juice, are Met fans. It pours out in all of their broadcasts.

That's a franchise in real trouble. Think about how great this is though, either the Mets give 20 million a year to an aging speed player with leg problems so bad he can't stay on the field and has proven to be gutless in the clutch time and again, or they let their best player go for nothing and completely alienate what's left of the fan base stopping them from buying tickets from a broke ass franchise.... they're fucked either way.

BUT I HAVE A SOLUTION FOR THEM....

Let Jose Reyes go and deal David Wright... I've got replacements for them right here...

I understand that you can't have a team in New York without some star power though, and I've taken that under consideration. So leading off, playing Centerfield....

Julia Styles... why not. She can't be any worse of a ballplayer than she is an a actress, can she? Put me in coach, look at me, I can be Centerfield....

But the Mets need a solid # 1-2 starting pitching type. Got it covered... who better than New York native....



Alyssa Milano. That's right, how can she NOT know how to pitch, she's been run through by every pitcher in the league, hasn't she? Don't worry Alyssa, you've been my # 1 starter since I was 8 years old and nothing will ever change that. Not even scurrying out of the Met locker room pulling your uniform on...

But there are so many more holes to fill on this squad, and I aim to fill them all.... at second base....

I have no idea who she is, other than being Latin, but isn't that the formula the Mets employ for filling out their roster? Besides, how can you argue against calling her up and giving her a shot in the bigs, just look at this form....

That's right baby, get down low and keep those balls in front of you. Play them off your chest if you have to. You've got plenty of time to get him.

In today's game you just can't win without some cheap players filling out the roster, can you? The Mets need to bring in a catcher.

Here we go, getting into her crouching position. Now this is a player I can really get behind. She can catch what I'm hurling in any day of the week. That's my sleeper pick for rookie of the year right there. But we're not finished, are we? Who do we bring out of the pen when we need someone to quiet those bats?

Talk about closing it out down the stretch. Well... maybe not, but these gals can't be much worse than the product on the field right now, and if you're going to SUCK, do it right! Give the fans something to cheer about, a reason to come out to the ballpark next season. I can't stand the Mets, but with this roster I'd have to seriously consider season tickets.

No matter who you root for though, there's one thing I'm sure we all can agree about....

Thank God it's Football season.... And....

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

Later People!

Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant
Coach LaSota