Month: August 2006

This is not a surprise to me

Acura Integras Still Being Stolen – Jalopnik

Of course Integras are still being stolen while RSX’s aren’t.  One, the Integra was awesome while the RSX is just an Integra with a new name.  Two, the smart kids bought Integras to pimp out – a stock Integra blows the doors off a Civic with $10,000 of engine work.

My first car was a 1988 Integra RS.  I loved that car.  Then someone rear ended it, and Allstate determined it wasn’t worth the repairs.  So my sister and I took the insurance money and a little out of pocket cash and bought a 1989 Integra LS.  We had that until my brother drove it into the ground.  They were great cars.  My girlfriend in college bought a brand new 2000 Integra during our senior year.  That was a fun car to drive, but not quite as much fun as the ’89.

Anyway, it’s too bad they’re discontinuing the RSX.  Maybe if they brought back the Integra it would start selling again.

Its like rats from a sinking ship

CNN.com – UK, Arnie in global warming pact – Aug 1, 2006 First Nick Saban, now the Governator?  Ahnold has now bypassed the President and gone straight to Tony Blair to make an agreement on global warming.  Everyone wants to distance themselves from an unpopular President.

“We see that there is not great leadership from the federal government when it comes to protecting the environment,” Schwarzenegger said. “We know there is global warming, so we should stop it.”

Great.  Stop global warming.  I’m all in favor of being more environmentally friendly.  But this reeks of “Please re-elect me, California” rather than any sort of real step toward anything.

And no matter how much I dislike the President, we can’t let being publically rude to him become a tool to win voters.  It’s like focusing on his poor public speaking – it ignores the real problems (Like his desire to take away all of our civil rights) and focuses on something highly visible, but not that important.

Jayson Stark is smoking crack

ESPN.com – MLB – Stark: What should have been — Clemens to Red Sox

But there is also an obligation on the other side, the obligation any team has to a player of Roger Clemens’ stature.Obviously, everybody in Houston has a vision of how the Rocket Man deserves to close out his astonishing career. And obviously, this isn’t it.

For some reason, Jayson Stark thinks that, after Roger Clemens stated quite clearly that he was more important than all of baseball with his little “I’m going to sit at home and play when I feel like for who I feel like” stunt, the Astros should do what’s best for Clemens and trade him to a contender.

Is Clemens the greatest pitcher of the modern era?  You can make that argument.  Would a lot of people be happy to see him end his career with a win in Game Seven of the World Series?  Sure.  Would I be one of them?  No.  Is that because I’ve got a little sour grapes because he’s played for every AL East team but my Orioles?  No, of course not, that’s ridiculous, how could you even say that?

Where is it written that the Astros (Who are only 6 games out of the wild card, although they aren’t playing that well right now) should make their team worse to give Clemens a last shot at the postseason?  It’s not written anywhere.  Clemens came to Houston because he wanted to pitch at home.  They were okay with a big contract for half a season.  Fine, that’s their decision.  But now that Houston doesn’t look like a good bet for the playoffs, they’re supposed to roll over and die?  Do you think they’d get anything in return from Boston?  Some mediocre prospect, maybe, and they’d probably have to eat a big chunk of Clemens’ salary.

Anyway, I hope Clemens’ last start is a totally meaningless game in September.  Houston plays at Pittsburgh right before going to Atlanta to finish the regular season.  I hope Clemens starts one of those games and loses to some 22-year-old kid brought up when the rosters expanded.  Maybe that will remind him that even 343 wins doesn’t make you bigger than the game.