My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 1

A while back I counted the number of t-shirts (and jerseys as well) in my closet from the local sports teams and posted it on Facebook. The count is now updated as I bought another one recently: 41 Phillies, 10 Eagles, 12 Flyers (and Phantoms, from before they moved to upstate New York and back down to Lehigh Valley), and only 2 from the 76ers. A couple of them are over 20 years old (one looks it), while most of the rest are from around 2000 or later. I've decided to post pics of all of them, as well as my baseball caps (not all of them are sports-related, and I don't yet have a count). So over the next few weeks, assuming I keep up, you'll be seeing them.

I'm sure most of them don't have interesting stories or anything, but if I can remember anything I'll mention it.

Also, now I'm really regretting not keeping the old shirts and caps I had from the Phillies World Series championship in 1980 and Eagles first Super Bowl appearance a few months later.

So...

This is one that I bought somewhat recently. Not sure where. It's one of those shirts that's made of material designed to keep you dry when it's hot. I wore it the other day just because I hadn't worn it before and it was still pretty hot out. (Generally I wear the sports shirts only if I'm going to a game, or for every game the Eagles play and for every playoff game of any team.) Seeing as how it's 2XL and I've lost weight, though, I'm not sure the material would've made a difference even if I had been running around performing amazing athletic feats.

And this is the one I wore to Tuesday night's game that I teased online, asking if anyone could guess the last word in the sentence. This was from a few years ago when the Phils were just dipping into social media. They held what I'm sure was their first social media-related ticket promotion: with a code from Twitter, etc., you got an offer for a ticket in the Rooftop Bleachers (not the greatest view), this t-shirt (front and back depicted), and I think a food and beverage credit as well, all for $20 or $25.

This is my most recent purchase. $7 at Marshalls.

This one I've had for many years. I thought I'd share it since Pat Burrell was added to the Phillies' Wall of Fame last weekend. It's a prime example of my Sports Shirt Jinx: if I buy a shirt of a specific player, either he leaves via trade or free agency, or he gets hurt/slumps badly and his career goes downhill. That started, if I recall, with my Scott Rolen t-shirt (which I no longer own). I will probably buy a Cole Hamels t-shirt when they're marked down to $10 or less. Consider it a retroactive jinx, but it's okay as he'll get on the Wall of Fame quickly.



And finally, this is one I purchased a while back (I think at Modells, definitely at a discount or clearance price) but never wore, until last night's game. Size: Large. I can finally fit into an L again (as long as they aren't a really tight cut)!

My Relationship With Sports?

I'm in a weird place lately when it comes to sports. I've been thinking that I haven't done many sports-related posts lately. Actually, other than during the NFL playoffs, I've hardly blogged specifically on sports at all. I've had passing comments in my MixBlog posts, but very few posts on one sports-related topic. It's not like I've lost interest in sports. I'm still reading the sports section of the Daily News every day, I still read things online, I still put games on TV, etc. I'm just not blogging about sports. I'm not entirely sure why, but I have a theory or two.

Part of it is due to Twitter and Facebook...and, going back further, to message boards such as the one at Outsports and the old Usenet newsgroups. I've always found it easier to make a quick comment on a game or some team-related news (Twitter and Facebook are all about brief comments -- 140 characters or less in Twitter's case) than to do a long analytical post. Lately, that seems to be the case even more. For example, after the Super Bowl I've been thinking about the Eagles and their failures as an organization compared to the Steelers...and then Pittsburgh had to go and ruin things by losing to Green Bay. Although the points floating around in my head are still valid, I haven't been inspired enough to sit down and put it together.

(And, of course, the impending owners' lockout of the NFL players -- they have one week to miraculously settle their differences -- has a lot of personnel moves, through free agency -- on hold.)

The Flyers, on the other hand, are doing almost everything right. They're tops in the Eastern Conference and seem primed for another long playoff run. So maybe I'm just waiting for the postseason. This leads to another issue. I still find myself not watching hockey games from start to finish. Take tonight. The game began at 7 pm and I was still running through my Twitter and Facebook timelines until about 7:30 pm. Then I got away from the computer and started watching the game. When the first period ended, I watched

Burrell As "The Gimp" Again!

Another picture of San Francisco Giants (and former Phillies) outfielder Pat Burrell wearing the infamous "gimp" outfit has surfaced, along with a second pic where he's not in that costume but still showing a lot of skin. The "gimp" gear is what he wore when strolling casually within camera range while Giants pitcher Brian Wilson was doing a TV interview last summer. Then another picture of Burrell in the outfit surfaced, from a party at his home a few years earlier. The pics below, said to be taken at Giants pitcher Barry Zito's mansion (yes, wealthy athletes seem to fancy themselves as modern-day Hugh Hefners) are from a site called Barstool Sports:

I have two wishes. One is a repeat of a previous wish: I need to be invited to parties hosted or attended by Pat Burrell. Two, whatever he does to get rid of his body hair, he should stop before I attend said parties.

On The Other Hand...

Unlike James Franco, Jake Gyllenhaal can come out of the closet any time he wants, especially since he broke up with Taylor Swift. I never thought that was real, let alone that it was going to last a while. She strikes me as a perpetually lovestruck 14-year-old even though she's 21. He's 30 now. The age difference isn't the issue. The maturity difference is. She should go back to Taylor Lautner, if you want my opinion. And Jake should come out and declare his eternal love for me, or at least stop by for a night...oh, what the hell, let's run this picture again...

By the way, perhaps because of this picture, somehow my "Love and Other Drugs" review has nearly caught up to my second nearly-naked Pat Burrell post as most-viewed on my blog since Blogger added their new Stats feature.

Speaking of coming out, did you hear that Johnny Weir is gay? Most of the commentary today revolves around the utter lack of surprise at this, since by his actions and attitude he'd done everything but make it official. I had my own joke line about it when I tweeted earlier ("Water wet, fire hot, Weir gay; or: time to sell some books!"). But this story at EW.com gives a more nuanced view of why he wanted to come out on his terms.

P.S. In part this post was a test to see if Blogger solved the problem that was disrupting things last night. It seems like it's back to normal. I have 2 movies, 2 weeks of comics and the NFL playoffs to write about, so I'm glad it's fixed!

From 2010 To 2011

Since I'm starting this before midnight and will continue on it after midnight, this will become the blog post that took two years to write! (And it's definitely the post with more links than any other.)

I suppose I could just repeat most of what I wrote at this time a year ago. Much of it still applies, and certainly my closing advice -- "(I)f you want your life to change, do it. Don't just talk about it. Do it. Do it, do it, do it. Stop talking about it and DO IT" -- is still pretty smart, if I do say so myself. But unlike last year, I feel like looking back a little tonight.

In January I learned that there was a full-length version of the "Mad Men" theme. I started doing volunteer work, doing tax returns with the Campaign for Working Families. I took a shot at Perez Hilton (an easy target). I complained about politicians. (Haven't we all? And it continued all year.) I scooped the local media with the story of former Phillies coach Steve Smith's participation in "The Amazing Race." (And ended up doing recaps of the season that got more detailed as it went on, even after Smith and his daughter were eliminated.)

February brought me lots of snow and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. I found out that "Daria" was being relased on DVD (I eventually bought it when the price was seriously marked down.) I compared Tiger Woods to Andy Reid(!). And my scoop of the media re: Steve Smith and "The Amazing Race" was acknowledged in the newspaper!

A Machine? Yes. THE Machine? No.

At AfterElton.com there's a column that links to two videos from "The Tonight Show" with guest Brian Wilson, closer for the (ugh) World Series Champion San Francisco Giants. Needless to say, his "friend" called The Machine also appears. I am not going to embed the video here. You can go to the link and see it if you want.

I am not posting the links because:

• The "Machine" that showed up is obviously NOT Pat Burrell. It's obvious even before he's seen sideways and from the rear. (The real deal follows after the jump. Again, might be NSFW for some.)
• I hate Jay Leno.

I'll leave it to you to decide which of these reasons is more important.

More Naked Pat Burrell

Remember the item I posted on Monday about the YouTube video that featured someone strongly believed to be former Phil Pat Burrell walking by briefly, his face covered (by a mask) but almost everything else uncovered, while Giants teammate Brian Wilson was doing a TV interview from his home? I don't understand the costume's name, but according to TheFightins.com it's called a gimp outfit. And today they revealed -- with photgraphic proof -- that Burrell's worn it before:

I don’t really want to go into detail about how I acquired this picture, but it was taken at Pat Burrell’s house in Arizona during a Christmas party in (I believe) December of ’04 (possibly ’05). According to my picture-taking accomplice, every year during his Christmas party — which is attended by a veritable who’s who of baseballers who spend their winters out in AZ — Pat wanders upstairs and slips into his assless-chapped gimp outfit to entertain his party guests while making them feel extremely uncomfortable all at the same time.

I took this at the Phils' Photo Day in '04. Pat was more fully dressed

It's not of very high quality, but there's some buttcheek there. I'd be drooling if it was a clearer shot. Seriously. Drooling. And I need to get invited to this year's party.

The (possibly NSFW) picture from TheFightins.com follows the jump:

Is That REALLY Pat Burrell?

Via AfterElton's link to this blog I discovered the video below. It's from a Fox Sports interview with San Francisco Giants' closer Brian Wilson. At about the 43-second mark, the provocatively (and barely) dressed man who walks into the picture is allegedly none other than Pat Burrell.



Obviously what we need is a look at the original video on a 50-inch HDTV.

Brings back memories of this, doesn't it?

Phils enter September with a cushion

Outside of the two-loss glitch in Pittsburgh the Phillies continue to maintain their winning ways. They're doing just enough to win, but they'll have a 7 1/2-game lead in the NL East when they begin a series with the Giants on Tuesday (the Braves and Marlins are both 8 out right now, and they play each other tomorrow). They still have issues, though.

For one, the Phils still don't really know what they have in Pedro Martinez. He's started four games. In two he got wins but looked shaky at times, in part because the offense had long innings that kept him on the bench for longer than usual. In the other two rain delays caused his removal early. They'll have to figure out whether he's going to be reliable enough to stay in the rotation or if they'd be better off with Jamie Moyer (who relieved Martinez after both rain delays and pitched very well).

Other pitching dilemmas may or may not be getting sorted out. Brad Lidge got a pair of saves this weekend against Atlanta, both with 1-2-3 ninth innings. He needs to string together a bunch of these to show he's truly ended his struggles. Cole Hamels pitched 8 scoreless innings in his last start. Again, he needs to become consistent.

Some of the htters (both in the lineup and on the bench) are also struggling. Raul Ibanez has slumped badly since returning from the disabled list just before the All-Star break. Offensively he looks more like Pat Burrell right now. Pinch-hitting has become a weakness -- Matt Stairs is now 0 for his last 27 at-bats. The Phils are at times having their usual difficulties with runners in scoring position. They need to be able to manufacture some runs now and then when the home runs aren't flying out.

There is still time for the Phils to resolve these issues, but not a whole lot. Fortunately, their lead gives them some leeway. On the other hand, they only need to look at the Mets to see what can happen to September leads.

My Phillies pet peeve...

Okay, it's technically one of my Phillies pet peeves. At times there are many. But this one occurred in tonight's game, a 7-1 loss at Tampa Bay. Last night they broke their 6-game losing streak by scoring 6 runs in the first inning en route to a 10-1 win. The runs didn't come easy tonight. Starting pitcher Joe Blanton did a fine job for 7 innings, allowing only a 2-run homer by our old friend Pat Burrell in the second inning. The Rays scored 5 in the 8th to break it open, with a couple of not-hard-hit balls that fell in helping.

In the 4th, though, with the game still close the tide seemed about to change. Three straight walks by the Rays' Matt Garza loaded the bases with nobody out. Any moron can tell you that, when a pitcher is struggling to get the ball over the plate, if you're batting you stand there and take at least one pitch, if not more. Jayson Werth went up hacking, and grounded the first pitch he saw for a third-to-home-to-first double play. A golden opportunity turned to dust.

This is the biggest problem with this team when they're going poorly: lack of discipline at the plate. If Werth is Exhibit A tonight, Exhibit B is Jimmy Rollins, who hasn't had a hit in the last 5 games and is batting below .200 in June. Because of his defense you can't bench him, but he simply shouldn't lead off any more, not until he has about a month of great hitting.

There is good news: closer Brad Lidge is ready to return from his knee injury and will be activated tomorrow.