MAAAAA, the Meatloaf!!!

To people who know the Florida Panthers, the best thing about the franchise is???

Sorry, but you guessed incorrectly unless you said Randy Moller, the voice of your Florida Panthers on the radio. This man has created a secret world known only to those who listen to the Dan LeBatard radio show on 790 The Ticket, Panthers lovers, or people who came across his exploits on Youtube.

Anyone who does not know, NEEDS TO KNOW. Moller has turned every Panthers goal call into a chance to re-live the past, bring up the present, or simply just make you wonder.

The reference from Wedding Crashers mentioned in the title is definitely one of the best. Another is WIILLSSSOOOON!!! - Tom Hanks in Castaway



Take a listen, and let Randy explain to you why he is the 1st star amongst Hockey Broadcasters.

October skY

OCTOBER. There is something different about this month. Its the turning of the leaves. The cool air beginning to blow. And a month in which you truly, can be Lost In Sports. It is a month that is filled with all four major sports leagues--NFL, MLB, NBA & NHL.

Baseball brought the end of the regular season with an amazing run by the Twins to the AL Central title. The MLB Playoffs have been sooo unexciting, the best part has been watching Jeter's heady baseball skills. 3 sweeps in the Division Series, and looks like a sweep for the Yankers, and a quick 5 game set for the Phils.


The only part worse about these playoffs has been Baseball's inability to capture their audience. Seriously. 3 days off for the NLCS, and 5 for the ALCS to begin. These breaks make it more about the "impact players" on a team, and not the team as a whole. Baseball misses the point, once again. And if it can't fall further, a possible 6 days off between the LCS and World Series if they end in 4 and 5 games like I mentioned before.

With October, we also see the return of NBA Basketball and NHL Hockey. These indoor, winter sports, are nothing short of exciting from the puck drop to the tip-off. Each fan likes their favorite sport for whatever reason, and basketball gets a bad rap for those I cannot understand.

NBA teams are comprised of a max of 15 players, and only 12 active on any given game day. Understand, that rarely do teams even use more than 9 players, unless otherwise dictated. That makes you have to be 1 of 270 people in the ENTIRE WORLD, to even set foot on the court, let alone make and impact on a NBA game.


I don't try to talk about hockey, but plenty of my buddies CAN, AND WILL. From time to time, I will have a guest hockey blogger, most likely to be Walter or the Jets Fan.


Finally, October is about not losing the chance to make the playoffs or stumbling through the early-middle part of your schedule. The Miami Dolphins have rallied back from an 0-3 hole, and are now 2-3, more importantly 2-0 in the AFC East. For the Gators fans, a tough win yesterday vs. Arkansas, but the first BCS rankings have UF 1st by .030 over Alabama.


Peace, for now until later.


- Aaron

MLB Season Wrap & Postseason Preview

Predictions made in my MLB Season Preview

NL- Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, Wild Card-Florida Marlins

AL- Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Wild Card- New York Yankees

World Series Winner- Chicago Cubs

SOOOOOOOOO WRONG IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE. What the hell was I thinking about the A's making it, and I should've known with the Cubs.

So that makes it 1/4 in the NL and depending on if the Twins win today's play-in game i could get 3/4 in the AL. It just seems like the Twins are gonna make it after everything going on with them--Last year @ Metrodome, Mauer misses beginning of season (hits .364), Morneau injured near season's end, etc.

Should I even attempt predicting the NL? Dodgers, Phillies, Rockies, & Cardinals. Real quick Dodgers limp into playoffs and have to face the best player (Pujols). I like the Cardinals winning the NL, for 4 reasons--Albert, Carpenter, Wainwright, & La Russa. The other series Phillies-Rockies is a matchup of flawed clubs in my opinion. Phillies cannot closes games out and the Rockies don't have any #1 pitcher (Cook, Marquiz, Jiminez just a bunch of #2 guys).

In the AL, you got Red Sox-Angels and Yankers-Twins/Tigers. Easy, Yankees take it because the play-in game ruins you. For the other matchup my gut says Sox, but it seems like an Angels year. So in the end Angels-Yankees and the Yankees take the cake.

World Series winner-- CARDINALS. Best combo of hitting, pitching, and managing in the bigs.

Football- 3 weeks through September

There is much to be said about playing a SEC team (Tennessee) who sets out to to prove to the #1 team in the land (Florida) that they are a worthy opponent. Being a Gator fan, I walked out of yesterday's game happy in more ways than one. They won a sloppy, gritty, hard-fought game and if Tennessee had a mere mediocre quarterback the outcome could have been different. Facing obstacles like a team stricken with the flu and the inability to throw ten yards beyond the line of scrimmage (against an NFL style defense), the Gators proved they can win any type of game.

The 09-10 Florida Gators are on a mission to become the only undefeated team that this school has ever seen. Each of the three championships have seen one loss--FSU in '96, Auburn in '06, and Ole Miss in '08. Make this team one-dimensional and they still can pull out the victory. The real test comes October 10 in Baton Rouge against LSU at 8 p.m.

Why is Grey's Anatomy still nominated for this bullshit (Emmy Nomination). Nobody likes that show anymore. Is this a stream of consciousness? Why doesn't LOST win it all?

Anyway, Sunday Night Football pits the Giants v. Cowboys in a standard early season NFC East Battle. So though 1 week and 14 1/2 games of week 2, what have we seen? NOTHING. The 13-3 Tennessee Titans of '08, begin 0-2 losing to the Steelers and TEXANS! These same Texans who could not gain a first down against the 2-0 NY Jets. Also, how the hell does San Francisco go 2-0 beating the Seahawks and Cardinals (two divisional games), that's crazy! Most surprising thing I have seen so far is...the Dolphins committing 4 turnovers against the Falcons in week 1. And that brings me to Monday Night Football with the Colts v. Dolphins. Miami has not won a prime time game since 2004- 57 weeks (thanks to the Sun-Sentinel for that stat).

As for other news in football...the Miami Hurricanes are close to being back. Ranked #9 in the AP Poll may be high, but beating two ranked teams says something about your team. I will the say that talent is 90% of winning in College Football and Miami usually has the most on any given field.

Thanks to Eric Berry, Lane & Monte Kiffin for giving the Gators the "scare" they needed to get things right for the rest of the season! I look forward to the coming weeks and a possible inters-state match up in Pasadena, that is if The "U" has come back full circle. HAAAAAAA, I am getting WAY to ahead of myself. Let's just beat Kentucky in Lexington next week and the Heisman is like winning NL MVP, WHO GIVES A SHIT? The goal is the crystal ball, and nothing else, actually the SEC Title first.

ALLLLLLRIGHT MIIIIIAMI- JIM MANDICH SCREAM YOUR FUCKIN' ASS OFF TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!!!!

Peace, for now until later.

- Aaron

Go Fins, Heat, Panthers, the Fish. Low payroll and all, still better than the Braves and Mets.

Baseball Numbers

I like to think that I know a lot about what I am talking. Here's the thing though, when speaking about baseball the numbers don't lie. So in baseball, if you don't know what you are talking about, then you REALLY have no clue. I discussed awhile ago how managers, more often then not, make decisions based on the numbers and averages.

In the early 2000s Billy Beane (Oakland A's GM) was the talk of the baseball world with his ability to consistently put a winning product on the field with a low payroll. Unfortunately the A's never made it past the ALCS, and now have come back to the medicrity, and are no longer contenders. Why? Pitching. Rich Harden, Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Houston Street are all gone and the A's have missed on many prospects they got in return.

I digress. The point I wanted to make is, that the Billy Beane's Moneyball theory was based on on-base-percentage. Basically, people who get on base with a high percentage, are extremely valuable to an offense's success. This instead of looking mainly at batting average for a batter's success rate.

OK, so to my point. As GM the bullpen might be the most overlooked unit with the exception of Closer. How does one tell whether or not a bullpen pitcher is successful as what they do? I think it must be more then just their ERA, which is a stat that at times can hide one's deficiencies.

I begin with WHIP. Walk + Hits per Innings Pitched. Having a WHIP lower then 1.40 is good, but the best pitchers hover around 1-1.10. Potential Cy Young winner in the NL Dan Haren's is 0.94 RIDICULOUS. The real stat to determine bullpen guy's success is their inherited runners stranded. What is better then a guy a gets the out he needs in a major spot, because guys are on base. This stat is not covered on any site with regularity. I found this online. Some Dodger fan HATES Guerillmo Mota, which as a former Marlin, he loved to let runners score when he came in relief.

So let's come up with a better way of quantifying a relief pitcher's success. WHIP + Inherited Runners Stranded is definitely the right start.

Peace, for now until later.

Aaron