Scott.Buffington.me

Whenever a baseball fan witnesses a no-hitter it is special. I recall seeing my fair share over the years and each time I recall thinking how the guy pitching will never forget this one. However, what most of us baseball fans have never seen is a post season no-hitter. A post season no-hitter is something that has only happened one other time before tonight, thrown by Don Larson in 1956, I was not even born yet, not even close. There is something about following a particular team throughout your life and then witnessing special moments in sports history. Tonight I watched Roy Halladay pitch a no-hitter against statistically the best hitting team in the National League this season.

Even if the Phillies do not win the World Series this season, even if they would lose this series, there is something special about watching sports history and a moment in sports history that you may not ever see again. If baseball statistics have taught us anything, it is that no-hitters in the post season are extremely rare. Chances are, the next time anyone will see a pitcher toss another post-season no-hitter will be in just over 50 years. Tonights no-hitter was not only special to Phillies fan, but this was an epic moment in baseball history and I watched it live.

As I sat by myself watching the game my phone rang with two out to go, I thought perhaps it was one of my friends who were also Phillies fans. I did not recognize the number but I answered the call. Turns out it was Scott's Lawn Service asking if I would like their lawn treatment. I kindly explained to the caller that I could not speak right now because I was watching Roy Halladay throw a no-hitter in the first game of the playoff series. The caller responded that he understood and we each hung up not saying another word. I sat and watched as Roy Halladay dazzled the remaining Cincinnati Reds, none of them getting close to getting a solid hit. I leaned forward in my chair as catcher Carlos Ruiz scrambled forward to field a tapper off the bat of Brandon Phillips, Ruiz fielded the ball perfectly and made a solid throw around the base runner for the final out.

Yes this was an exciting moment for me as a Phillies fan, but it was also really special for me as a baseball fan to have seen a feat that had only been accomplished once before. Congratulations to "Doc" Halladay and thanks for the memories.

I do not get serious about baseball cards, mainly because they are a terrible investment. The cards I have and display with care are for nostalgia and conversation pieces. The only cards I have that I care about are Jacob's little league cards, my Billy Ripken error card and my Derek Jeter joke card. Otherwise I have a few boxes full of cards for nostalgia sake. This season when we went to see the Harrisburg Senators we picked up a couple decks of this years Senators team so that Jake could get to know some of the players. For those that did not know it, Stephen Strasburg started with the double A Senators this Spring, so I was not too surprised to find a Stephen Strasburg card in the pack of cards.

Most likely this card will never be worth anything, though I did see it on Ebay today with bids for $25. This would likely be the time to sell it if I cared about such things. Instead I will add it to the other cards I have as conversation pieces and if Strasburg ends up putting up a great career it might be an even better conversation piece. I probably would not have paid much attention to the card except for all the excitement about his Topps rookie card going for big money a few weeks ago. When I saw the card I told Jacob we will put this one to the side and take good care of it.

There might not be much interest in the card now, but if Strasburg puts together a great career I have to think this Harrisburg Senator card would be slightly more rare than the Topps card. At least for the moment, we have an interesting conversation piece to add to our collection.

The past year, or at least going back to October of 2008 I have had perhaps the best ever year in the life of a sports fan. The only other year that might compare for me is perhaps 1979 through 1980, but this year is probably superior. In every major sport the team I root for now holds the championship. I do not really follow the NBA or NHL other than reading headlines, but the teams I have rooted for during my lifetime has not changed.

• NFL Champion - Pittsburgh Steelers
• MLB Champion - Philadelphia Phillies
• NHL Champion - Pittsburgh Penguins
• NBA Champion - LA Lakers

Additionally the local American Hockey League team, the Hershey Bears have won the Calder Cup. The two oldest trophies in the world now call Pennsylvania home. My son Jacob touched the Calder Cup the other night at the Harrisburg Senators game. Before someone asks, I have always been a fan of the LA Lakers. Pittsburgh did not have an NBA team and the Phillies are the only major sports team I cheer for from Philadelphia.

My oldest memories of baseball involve watching the Phillies and listening to Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn call the games. We lost Ashburn in 1997 and yesterday, 4/13/2009, we lost Harry Kalas.

I mentioned Kalas and his call of the final out of the Phillies World Series victory this past Fall. One of the other calls I vividly remember is Harry Kalas calling Michael Jack Schmidt's 500th homerun.

I have no idea if I will ever latch onto another broadcaster as I did Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn. I doubt I will, with media being so broad now, those intimate relationships are not as prevalent. The days of radio and 12 or 13 TV channels is gone and a unique voice and flair for calling baseball just does not seem as common anymore. For me and every other Phillies fan, Kalas was the voice of the Phillies and baseball, though Vin Skully deserves a mention in my book.

Last night Comcast Sportsnet rebroadcast Harry Kalas' final called game, a Phillies 7-5 comeback victory over the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. As I watched the game and listened to Harry Kalas signoff for the last time I knew one of the last pieces of my childhood was gone.

I always get nervous going into these games, the only place I talk about big Steelers games is on the Brutal Deluxe Podcast. I am superstitious when it comes to any of my teams. This game was special, Super Bowls are always special, but the 2005 victory was kind of ugly and I believe game was a defining moment of Roethlisberger's career. This game was Big Ben winning it with 2 minutes and change and no matter what happens from here on out he will go down as a special quarterback.

No one is mentioning this, but I really did not want the Steelers to lose to the Cardinals. This was a Super Bowl win for the Pottsville Maroons. I like Kurt Warner, I do and I can root for a lot of the Cardinal players, but I will never root for Bill Bidwell until he returns the Maroons 1925 championship.

What a game though, my heart was in my throat and there was at least three times where Jake and I were jumping around the family room. We both were pretty down when the Steelers lost the lead. We were jumping all over the place when Ben led that last touchdown drive, it was AWESOME!

Lastly, many have asked over the last week if the Pittsburgh Steelers are America's team. As a life long Steelers fan, we are TOO COOL to allow anyone to refer to us as America's Team. We will savor this championship just as we have every one because you never know if you will see another one. GO STEELERS!

While I am a relatively quiet Phillies fan, I really am, I have followed the team since I knew what baseball was. Where I grew up the Phillies and Orioles were on TV and I always enjoyed listening to Harry Kalas and Richie Ashburn call the games. The style of calling the game used by Kalas and Ashburn won me over as a kid and the Phillies became the team I rooted for. I remember them winning the 1980 World Series and the two World Series losses in 83 and 93. While Richie Ashburn is no longer with us, Harry Kalas still is and he is still among my favorite to hear call a game. Here is how Harry Kalas called it.

"One strike away, nothing-and-two the count to Hinske. Fans on their feet, Brad Lidge stretches . . . the pitch . . . swing and a miss! Struck him out! . . . The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of Baseball!"

"Brad Lidge does it again and stays perfect for the 2008 season, 48-for-48 in save opportunities for the 2008 season, 48-for-48 in save opportunities . . . and let the city celebrate! Let the 48-hour wait diminish the euphoria of this moment and the celebration . . ."

"Twenty-five years in this city that a team has enjoyed a world championship and the fans are ready to celebrate. What a night! Phils' winning, 4-3, Brad Lidge gets the job done once again!"

I am old enough to remember the Phillies last World Series victory and this one was a long time coming. It has been 28 years since the Phillies last World Series victory and at times I wondered if I would ever see it again. I felt the same way about the Pittsburgh Steelers before their improbable Super Bowl victory in 2005.

This years Phillies had the most impressive bull pen ever for the Phillies, at least it performed like the best ever down the stretch and in particular the playoffs. That bull pen combined with an ace starter, great offense and a lot of hitting from the lesser known Phillies is what propelled the Phillies through the playoffs. No one seriously thought a National League team would win the World Series this year, including me. But once the playoffs started and the Phillies got through that first series I was a believer. The Red Sox were not dominating this year, except for their salaries and Tampa Bay did not scare me at all. So once the Rays were officially in I thought the Phillies had a fantastic shot at winning it all.

There have been a lot of years where I sat there at the end of the season and thought, "if we only had some pitching", well this year the Phillies had pitching and a lot of gritty ball players that made them a fun team to root for. I was disappointed with MLB again this year because of the terrible scheduling of the games, as was every other baseball fan in America, but I am going to enjoy this World Series win. Congratulations Phillies!

Tuesday July 15th, 2008 I again sat with my son who was intently watching the second inning of Major League Baseball's All-Star game with the time now after 9pm. I find that as each year passes I grow particularly more frustrated with professional sports. I realize it is a business but does everything always have to be about making a buck? I will be surprised if MLB does not seriously pay for snubbing young fans someday. What am I complaining about? Why is a game in which the league wants to showcase their all-stars on at 9pm on a weeknight? There is literally no chance of a young fan watching the entire game.

The World Series is already a mess that any kid that goes to bed at a reasonable hour never gets to watch. My son is 6 years old and the latest he stays up on a non-school night is 10pm except for very rare occasions. But MLB has demonstrated on numerous occasions that all they care about is when the advertisers want the game televised.

While I am at it, today’s players do very little to preserve the game. Sure they will threaten to sit out an opening day game played in Japan unless their managers and coaches are paid bonuses like they were to play. But I have not heard any MLB player say anything about ending the Hall of Fame game that had traditionally been played each year in Cooperstown. Nope, the players have no interest because there is no money to be made with playing the game. MLB does not care about the game because they could not make any money from the game.

The NFL has its problems but I do have to take my hat off to them that they still play the Super Bowl before 8pm on a Sunday. The NFL at least stays with some traditions and seems to understand that a game finishing at 10pm is a lot better than a game finishing at midnight or later.

Major League Baseball has a six year old fan that wants to get to know its players, he wants to watch your game and you continually program around him. Keep doing those sorts of things and someday you might not demand any ratings. I turned the game off after the six year old in my household went to bed at 9:30pm. You lost several adult viewers with that kind of programming, jerks.

Harrisburg Mile
Originally uploaded by scotbuff

I have never run a distance race competitively. Probably the closest thing was the old Presidents Physical fitness tests in school. I ran a lot of laps training for sports like wrestling where I needed the cardiovascular system of King Kong. But since leaving school I have not run distances very often and I have not run anything other than sprints in years. I was always a 100 meter guy. That all changed about six weeks ago and my lower legs are still not cooperating. I did achieve my goal though, under 10 minutes.

The time I crossed the finish line was 9:44, no idea what I will officially be listed at. I was told before hand to watch that I did not go out too fast, I was looking to run around a 2 minute quarter mile. I got caught up in the excitement and ran a 1:36 quarter mile, much too fast. I suffered pretty badly through the rest of the run, moving at a near crawl through the middle. However I ran the last quarter mile better and did not look too bad at the finish, although I did do a quick check where the medical staff was. The crowd was really good and cheered everyone on throughout the race.

My lower legs are still not used to running, but I intend to keep at it and come back next year to crush the 9:44 time. I think I will concentrate on logging longer runs, maybe work toward a 5k. I would like to run a 7 minute mile next year, but that might be a tall order. I finished and managed to walk to the free beer tent to reload some carbs.

A few years ago I came to the realization that I simply will not put the time or money into golf required for me to maintain the quality of play necessary for me to enjoy playing. I played golf for enough years to realize that your swing needs to be practiced at least weekly, realistically several times a week to maintain the type of golf game I want to play. Golf is a wonderful challenge and for me I just cannot fully embrace a challenge if I am not able to do so whole-heartedly in the manner I deem necessary. I announced my retirement from golf sometime back in 2003 to my friends until the kids have grown. For me golf is not about beating another players score, it is beating the score you previously shot on the course you are playing, it is about beating the course. Like it or not this involves large investments of time away from family and yes golf costs a lot to play. One day I will return to the game, older, wiser and yes probably not quite with the same athleticism I had. But all is not lost; time with the family allows you other pursuits.

I have not golfed in so long, it is sad. I have however been playing wiffle ball at least once a week. I played Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening. So, although my golf game is suffering, my wiffle ball game is all-star material. I made two amazing diving catches on Saturday; both would have been Sports center material. I also hit homeruns on Thursday and Saturday, overall I had a great series.

Hot Corner
Originally uploaded by Scott B.

This past weekend the local baseball leagues officially kicked off. Beginning Friday night Jake played his first official tee-ball game. Saturday they had pictures, opening ceremonies which included three Harrisburg Senator baseball players and a game. Although they do not officially keep score, the kids are pretty aware that they are getting outs. The team looks good, several of the kids, Jake included can field and throw to first base. During his games they often get three outs before the other teams full order bats. Every kid does get to bat each inning and the games are only 4 innings. Thankfully there is no pitching, all the hitting is off the tee, this is a VERY good thing. All the kids have improved at fielding and hitting from where they started and so far his team has not hit into three outs in any inning.

I cannot say enough how much I like the way the games are played. At this age most of these kids would not hit a thrown pitch and it would only promote bad habits. All of them have improved a lot and with the game moving at a swift pace their attention is maintained. I am also thrilled that Jake enjoys the game of baseball and he is very serious about his game. When he is running the bases some of the spectators have commented on his game face. Shortstop is probably his favorite position, most of the kids do not pull the ball so a lot of hits go up the middle. He did get to play the hot corner in his first game, they play a different position each inning. Which is great because they learn how to play each of the positions and how to cover the bases. There are no psycho parents and his coaches are fantastic, all and all a great experience for his first exposure to organized sports.

All this of course takes me back to my childhood and how excited I was to just play neighborhood wiffle ball and the like when the weather warmed up. We used to play this modified baseball game with taped up wiffle ball bats and tennis balls at one of the playgrounds. At this particular park we had to use tennis balls because we routinely hit homes on the other side of the street. We called the game homerun and thankfully the home we hit most was that of one of the guys who played with us. The park was lined with massive trees that knocked down most of the balls, the challenge was catching balls while avoiding playground equipment and trees. There was some real circus catches made and I perfected my modified knuckle ball playing that game. Another advantage of tennis balls is that you could play with less than a full roster on each team, you were allowed to hit base runners with the ball to get them out. When I was a kid everyone had some modified game based on baseball with homefield rules. Jake and I have been fine tuning a game like that here at Buffington grounds, our season will start when his tee ball league ends. It is Spring folks, PLAY BALL!

We need more owners for the 2008 Brutal Deluxe Baseball League. If you have any interest in giving fantasy baseball a try, sign up. The draft is on Saturday, but if you cannot make it the system will draft a team for you. The past couple years has been a lot of fun, get signed up NOW!

League ID#: 179246
Password: brutal44

http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1

Jake started his first year of tee-ball today. The practice went well and he seemed to really enjoy himself. Of course I started the year out by forgetting my camera. I did take some cell phone photos but they came out absolutely horrible. Today was strictly base running instruction and fielding practice. Jake seemed to enjoy the fielding and he is capable of throwing well on occasion.

One of the coaches was not using a glove when they first started throwing, after Jake threw his first ball they decided to put a glove on. When Jake throws with all his mechanics correct he can put a little something on his throws. Though by the end of practice I could tell he was either tiring or not concentrating on his throwing. His throws to first base and home late in practice were falling rather short.

The team chose a name at the end of practice and after a vote, his team is the Green Lightning. Next practice I believe they will be hitting off the tee, which will be interesting. He has not hit off a tee in a while, I probably should have kept him hitting from the tee. He is so young that the coach will be able to correct any mistakes and he will build some good hitting habits hitting from the tee. The games start in mid-April, I am looking forward to seeing him out on the field. I remember as a kid when we broke out the baseball equipment that it was a sure sign of Spring. I had the same feeling today, of course the warm weather helped.

Lang Clubs Drago
Originally uploaded by Scott B.

Since the moment Rocky Balboa dropped Ivan Drago you have wondered. The subject was never breached ,but now finally 24 years later the question is answered. Ivan Drago surfaced just after Rocky Balboa defeated Clubber Lang in a rematch, Balboa having lost to Lang the first go around. Surely Lang would have wanted another shot at the title, having only a loss to Balboa on his resume. Balboa retired right after the Ivan Drago fight and left the title vacated. What you were never told is that Ivan Drago's next fight was against Lang, Drago's handlers hoping to solidify Ivan as the number one contender.

The fight was an impressive matchup if you enjoy all out slugfests. Ivan Drago's style was taylor made for Clubber Lang however. The two fighters traded bombs for two rounds, a bruised and battered Ivan Drago was game and confronted Lang at the center of the ring in round three. Lang matched Drago's power and chin and certainly had better boxing skills than the giant Russian. About half way through round 3 Lang landed a right cross that dropped Drago. Ivan Drago was unable to get off the canvas and faded into obscurity.

Lang claimed one of the vacated heavyweight title belts and Tommy Gunn's handlers made sure that he never had to face "The Southside Slugger". Lang finished out his heavyweight career never losing another match, all the while wishing he could avenge his only loss. Of course with Rocky retired, not fighting again until what must have been about 2005 we were never given the opportunity to see Balboa versus Lang III. Well, there you have it, now you know.

What a great Super Bowl and what an even better outcome. Before the game the Patriots tried to claim they did not care about the records they set, as they listed them. Brady and company seemed to know all their records by heart. Those records are meaningless, it is meaningless that you threw most of your TD's late in the 4th quarter in meaningless games, it was meaningless that you cared so much about winning the games that meant nothing in the big picture. Congratulations on your records Patriots, the championship is going elsewhere.

I hate comparing teams from different eras, because you simply cannot do it. You can speculate but you can never say this team is the greatest ever. It was getting to the point that the Patriots were almost saying it on your television every week. This Patriot team was hard to like and it is appropriate karma caught up with them tonight. Luck has a lot more to do with what happens week in and week out in sports and a lot bigger effect than most fans like to admit. Tonight, the luck was on the Giants side and they took advantage.

This was the biggest upset in Super Bowl history, it has to be listed as such. That being said, we saw one of the greatest defensive lines in NFL history this season. The Giants defense deserved to get the MVP, the whole squad. The Giant offense squaundered a lot of opportunities and the defense held them together until the offense finally executed.

When I heard last week about this book, I could not have wanted the Giants to win more. The bottom line is that the idea of such a book should never have been uttered until it happens. The running up of the scores, the cheating, the attitude and this book is exactly why everyone outside New England is laughing right now.

For those in the media that never wanted to see Art Monk in the Hall of Fame (and you know who you are) the day has finally come where the quiet receiver with HOF numbers will be known as a member of the Hall of Fame. I have talked and wrote over the last few years about Art Monk and the snubbing he received because he did not talk to the media as much as they would have liked during his playing career. Over the past couple years the attention this snubbing attracted from those in the media and those of us fans that noticed the injustice became bigger than those orchestrating it. For the record, Monk never said anything to the public of this snubbing over the years, he just left his numbers do the talking. Congratulations Art Monk!

Four O - Honoring The Guarantee
Originally uploaded by Scott

Around week three or week four of the 2007-08 NFL season I stated on the Brutal Deluxe Football Podcast that if Tom Brady broke Peyton Manning's TD record I would drink cheap crappy beer. I was thinking of something like Bud, but the comments started coming in. I believe Four O was one of the suggestions. Well, tonight is the night, around 9:15pm I will be twisting open this big bottle of liquid something or other that someone decided to classify as beer. I make no promises that I will finish it, but I will drink it throughout the podcast. Never let it be said that I am not a man of my word.

I was just going to drink a traditional cheap beer, but in the comments I agreed that if I could find something particularly awful I would indeed drink it. I stopped by the local pizza shop tonight, which I knew sold single bottles and I knew I previously spotted some 40 ounce selections in the cooler. I gazed upon the wonder that was Colt 45 and a collection of Bud 40 ounce bottles and even some Yuengling among others and suddenly I spotted Four O, which also advertises itself as "Street Legal". As I approached the counter the cashier began laughing, I guess I do not look like the 40 ounce type. I headed home bearing my paper bag encased 40 ounces of malt liquor.

I am not kidding myself, I fully expect this to possibly be one of the worst beers I have ever tasted. I purposely did not put this post under the beer category, as I am pretty sure as a home brewer I would be banned from further brewing if I categorized Four O as beer. I suspect that my first reaction will be similar to the reaction that I recall Rick Flair having while watching NWA wrestling as a kid. Often while Flair was taking a beating you would clearly hear him exclaim, "Oh God!" Perhaps from watching Rick Flair do this so many times, I have been known to utter this same phrase when experiencing something awful, like a bad cup of coffee. Judging by the review on Beer Advocate, I chose a real winner, Four O is graded as an "F".

I confess that I knew nothing of the Pottsville Maroons until one of the former owners in the Brutal Deluxe Football League claimed the name for his team. When he declared that they were the 1925 NFL champions, I decided to do some research not realizing an NFL team at one time called Pottsville home. When I originally researched the Pottsville Maroons there was not nearly as much information as there is now available on the Internet concerning the interesting history of the team. The Maroons were also mentioned on Monday Night Football the season following the Maroons popping up in the BDFL. The MNF crew at the time touched on the conspiracy of the stolen 1925 championship and I revisited the story again. We even discussed it on the forums and those that chimed in all seemed to feel the Pottsville Maroons were indeed robbed of the 1925 NFL championship. I believe that same season, at the NFL owners meeting, the owners voted on whether to restore the championship to the Maroons, only the Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers voted to return the championship. Sadly, I believe the other owners have never looked into the full story or the old boys club that include Bill Bidwell refuse to right the wrong. If the owners do indeed know anything about the history, I would love to know how they could possibly vote against returning the championship to the Maroons. There is no other excuse other than the old boys club siding with Bidwell's Cardinals. Recently I became aware of a fantastic book detailing the interesting history of the Pottsville Maroons and the stolen 1925 championship as well as where the NFL and the game of American football fit into 1925 America. Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship is one of the best sports books I have ever read and if you have any interest in sports history or general history I highly recommend this book.

What was so interesting about the 1925 Pottsville Maroons was that at the time for the most part the NFL was looked at as being inferior to college football and indeed overall it was. The reason for this was that rosters changed weekly and most teams were a collection of mercenaries. The NFL teams rarely were true "teams", that is until the Maroons paved the road to what we see today. In the 1925 NFL it was not uncommon for a guy to play for one team on Saturday and another team on Sunday under an alias. The NFL teams were not capable of beating the good college teams, and NFL teams really did not practice so there were no game plans. Because of the lack of practice and team camaraderie the games were mostly a handoff up the middle and a cloud of dust. The Maroons in 1925 broke this mold, they had players who accepted salaries for the entire season, the players lived in Pottsville and they practiced. The team was a mixture of ex-college stars, and a few working men from the coal mines of Pennsylvania, including the greatest running back you never heard of, Tony Latone, the Human Howitzer. America loved football and the semi-pro leagues did have rabid local fans. Often the teams from the coal leagues arranged games with NFL teams, that's right, an NFL team would often pad their schedule with a coal league team, particularly during the common end of season barnstorming of schedules that occurred. Most seasons the end of year barnstorming was the only thing that kept the teams in the black.

The NFL was struggling in 1925 and many thought the league would not make it. The Pottsville Maroons paid an entry fee in 1925 to join the league, they were hated by the NFL as was another small town team, the Green Bay Packers. The NFL wanted to rid itself of the small town teams. The only reason Pottsville was allowed into the league was because the NFL needed the money and they felt that the other NFL teams could use the Maroons to pad their records. What the NFL did not count on, was that the Maroons would set the stage for how a professional football team should be run if the game was to be taken seriously. while the Maroons scooped up some good professional talent, the heart and soul of the team was Tony Latone. Latone was forced to work in the mines from a young age and never finished school. In the mines Latone had become a freakishly strong and powerful football player. Pushing two to four thousand pound carts filled with coal will do that to a guy. Latone was capable of wearing down any team put before the Pottsville Maroons. The Maroons also threw the ball more than any team had ever thrown in the NFL before them, and they threw successfully and even developed what is today called a screen pass. The Maroons were not a one man show, late season injuries showed how deep this star-laden team was.

Why I liked the book Breaker Boys and I think you would too, is the description of the lives of those that worked the coal mines, what life was like for those living in 1925, the state of the NFL and football in America at the time. One item that comes to mind, I did not really know where the name Packers came from, it becomes clear where the name came from and it is amazing that the name stuck throughout the leagues history. I am sure Green Bay fans already know their teams history, but I did not. The book was well researched, open minded, well written, an easy read and details how professional football in America rose from industry and region competitiveness. Another interesting story was how Pottsville made arrangements for play by play to be sent by telegraph from Chicago and from Philadelphia during the two championship games. That reminded me of how today we might follow games with Yahoo's play by play. Even in 1925 technical guys were thinking of ways to deliver content for others to consume. The greatest stories are those that are true when they are so well written, Breaker Boys is that kind of book.

Some facts to leave you with, the Maroons soundly defeated the Chicago Cardinals in what everyone billed the NFL Championship game. The Cardinals refused the title after NFL stripped the Maroons for playing and defeating the famed four horsemen and seven mules of Notre Dame to end the season, a game that undeniably gave the NFL credibility. The Bidwell family later claimed the title after purchasing the team in 1932. The NFL used a territory rule that the league has never produced, probably because the rule did not exist. There were two teams in Chicago for crying out loud. There were witnesses and affidavits supporting the Maroons owner's claim that he received permission from the league office to play Notre Dame. In 2003, those representing the Pottsville Maroons stated they would accept sharing the 1925 title with the Cardinals, Bill Bidwell shot this idea down and continues to use his power with the NFL to deny the Maroons what is truly theirs. Read the book and judge honestly for yourself. I am not saying the New England Patriots should be stripped of their NFL titles or denied one this year if they should win it, but certainly their infractions are a comparison we can use to what happened to the 1925 Pottsville Maroons. The NFL has stated that the Patriots were warned repeatedly, the Patriots infraction was cheating against a documented rule during the games. The NFL has never had any such territory rule that was used against the Pottsville Maroons and more importantly, the infraction was certainly not cheating against an opponent.

Apparently there is a new popular baseball card out this year. I do not really collect baseball cards, but I enjoy baseball cards that contain errors or are in some way special. The Derek Jeter Topps card this year does not so much contain an error, but a gag.

"Somewhere in between the final proofing and its printing, someone at our company -- and we won't name names -- thought it would be funny to put in Bush and Mantle," said Clay Luraschi, a spokesman for Topps in Tuesday's edition of the Daily News.

I found out about the card from an old friend of mine, who has acquired the card from a friend of his and as luck would have it is going to send it to me. My friend knowing about another baseball card I own said he immediately thought of me after receiving the card. The Derek Jeter card will be a nice addition to my mini-collection. Apparently Topps is going to correct the card and it will not appear in the sets that will be sold. If this is true, and I hope it is, that means the card might actually have a little value associated with it. I would not part with the card anyway.

It is that time of year again, time to get silly about fantasy baseball and those March Madness brackets. Join the gang here at Nitevilla and help us fill out the Brutal Deluxe Fantasy Baseball League and the Brutal Deluxe NCAA Pickem. Join one or join both, all are welcome.

If you would like to spend your baseball season with us, you can find all the sign-up information here.

If you would like to amaze us with your prognostication abilities and fill out a March Madness bracket, sign-up information is located here.

My Guy Room
Originally uploaded by Scott B.

• Commemorative bottle of your first homebrew (With Label)
• Photo of yourself at Myrtle Beach golfing
• Over-sized boxing gloves. (For resolving conflicts)
• Street sign for favorite college team
• Mattel Electronics Football and Baseball
• AC/DC bottle opener (For homebrew)
• CD Player and TV of course
• Football on TV (Optional, but must be sports)
• Original Futon and Recliner from bachelor days

With the first football game of the NFL season taking place tonight, the Hall of Fame Game, it seems as good a time as any to round up all those fantasy football fans. Other than the BDFL, which is a private league, we host a few others each year. The we being, Alex who took the bull by the horns and got things rolling on Yahoo this year. If you would like to compete against your blog mates, see this forum post which Alex has been updating as the various games become available. This post has the sign up link for our annual weekly pickem which has been popular as well as Fantasy, Survival and Salary Cap. In addition to the Yahoo leagues and games that we normally setup, I am testing a league on FleaFlicker.com this season. Sign up is easy, just your email and a password, if we can fill the league we can see what FleaFlicker has to offer. This league will be a good introduction for any of you that thought you might like to try fantasy football. If you want to give the FleaFlicker League a try, Sign up Here. The password to join the league is - brutaldeluxe.

There has to be some folks out there that like to fill out brackets. Alex has the Pickem all setup and so far Alex and I are the only ones signed up. I know we are both just passing fans of NCAA Basketball. In other words we see the headlines and maybe catch a little of a game here and there. So even someone that has no knowledge of NCAA Basketball has just as good a shot at winning, and it's free and fun.

C. Palmer - (Cin - QB)
M. Hasselbeck - (Sea - QB)
S. Alexander - (Sea - RB)
L. Jordan - (Oak - RB)
C. Dillon - (NE - RB)
L. Fitzgerald - (Ari - WR)
A. Toomer - (NYG - WR)
T. Houshmandzadeh - (Cin - WR)
D. Mason - (Bal - WR)
B. Finneran - (Atl - WR)
T. Heap - (Bal - TE)
S. Graham - (Cin - K)
J. Feely - (NYG - K)
Cincinnati - (Cin - DEF)
Tampa Bay - (TB - DEF)
N. Vasher - (Chi - DB)
N. Clements - (Buf - DB)
A. Henry - (Dal - DB)
C. Hope - (Pit - DB)
T. Parrish - (SF - DB)
A. Schobel - (Buf - DL)
D. Johnson - (KC - DL)

Our Yahoo salary cap and Yahoo pick'em leagues are filling out. Both have eight participants now and our returning pickem champion is one of those who joined us. Some of the others I can only guess have joined as a result of us mentioning it on our podcast. I am the Middletown Menace in the salary cap league, I looked at my lineup again tonight, I like the way it looks. I cannot list the lineup as of yet, it would be giving away my strategy, perhaps later this season. With the unveiling of the Middletown Menace helmet, it leaves only the PA Fighting Pike helmet as yet to be displayed. That would be my only complaint with Yahoo, they need to allow you to upload a logo or helmet.

• Play Yahoo! Salary Cap Football with us! Our group info is here.
• Pick the upcoming season's games with us in our Yahoo! Pro Football Pick'Em group! Details here.

Einstein
Originally uploaded by Scott B..

We are only three weeks and a few days out from the start of the NFL season and we are in full swing here at Nitevilla and over at Brutal Deluxe. Alex set up an NFL Pickem League for us, get all the signup info here. We also still have some openings in our salary cap league, signup now! The pickem league was a lot of fun last year, Paul won, but it came down to the final weeks between three of us. Signup for the salary cap league and the pickem league is free, so listen to Einstein's lesson plan and join us for some football fun.

We are quickly approaching the first week of NCAA Football and NFL Football. Which of course means Brutal Deluxe Fantasy Football and other fantasy football fun. For those who are looking for the Yahoo NFL Pickem League we had last year, it is coming mid-August. Hopefully we will have the same turnout we had last year. Our first Brutal Deluxe Podcast of 2005 has already taken place, with another planned for this week, tune in, it is a blast.

23.4MB 64kbps Stereo MP3 51m 16s

I spent some of my spare time over the past week getting the BDFL ready for it's fourth season. This included finalizing some minor rule changes, setting this seasons schedule, setting the draft date, selecting the draft order and setting up some RSS feeds for various league items. I am hoping to have over half the league owners over at my house for the draft this season, many of the participants have never met. Two owners from the Baltimore area have expressed interest in joining the draft party via Skype or similar technology. Prior years the draft has been done with the majority of the owners taking part via the chat room that runs on the Brutal Deluxe website with a few owners here at BDFL Headquarters. This marks the first year that we may all be hooking up via conference call and in person.

In local news Alex and I will have to find a new spot for any future Cygweb-Nitevilla Summits. We met on two occasions last year over at Croc'n'Berries for the 1pm Sunday games and I watched the Steelers vs Jets playoff game with Jake's uncle Aaron there as well. Well, Croc'n'Berries closed with a mere 3 days of notice this week, and the former location will be yet another Union Deposit steak house (Charlie Brown's Steak House I think). Um, I think three steak houses in one location is overkill, but whatever. So we will need to find a location that has good wings (preferably a location that allows you to order buckets of 50 plus wings) and a lot of TV's to watch Sunday Ticket. Of course I am looking forward to seeing a game in High Definition at some point on the Harden Family's HDTV. ;)

Tabletop Football
Originally uploaded by Scott.

So what do the guys from the Brutal Deluxe Football League do during the six months between the Super Bowl and the start of the season? Play some extreme tabletop football of course!

Yahoo has Fantasy Baseball open for registration. I registered a league which has 12 openings, so far we have 5 teams, not bad for one days sign-up. Get signed up now and see if you can dethrone the defending champion, Monroe Street Marauders. All are welcome!

League ID# is 64239 and the Password is villa1337.

In web related news, FeedBurner.com had an interesting blog post about the increase in Podcasting in relation to their feeds. This was interesting to me, because my Nitevilla Feed and Brutal Deluxe Feed both use the enclosure feature for the Brutal Deluxe Podcast, which Alex and I recorded over the last half of the NFL season. If you subscribe to any of my feeds, be sure you are using the FeedBurner versions, they hold the enclosures and more goodies.

As I mentioned in this post, I decided to go ahead and transfer my domain names over to GoDaddy. I signed up yesterday and kicked off the transfer of Brutal Deluxe and Nitevilla as well as registered a new domain name for virtually nothing. Basically for half the price as normal I was able to extend both my current domain names for an additional year. Nitevilla for some reason seems to be taking longer to complete the switch and just as I was posting this GoDaddy phoned me to let me know everything was going fine and the switch was just about to take place. I thought that was pretty cool that they had someone watching things like this and took the time to phone me.

Over the past few years when posting comments and opinions on this website I always wondered if any of those posts on particular folks would ever be read by the person I reference. Yesterday I received an email titled Buff and signed, Coach Rick Buffington. Rick said he had come across a message where I referred to his days in the Arena Football League and asked, "Are you a Buffington too?" I immediately guessed that it must be here on this website and sure enough I searched and found this post. The only thing that I regret is that the post was not worded as flattering as it should have been. I should have said, "sure his record was not so good", or something to that effect rather than how I worded it in the post. Success in the win/loss department depends on the players you have and team ownership, not just coaching. Rick did not seem put off, and seemed to understand what I meant when I referenced his name, because, it is after all the same last name as mine. Which is why I always associated Rick with the Arena Football League. As a sports fan I rarely see the name Buffington associated with any sports figures and Rick Buffington caught my attention back when I saw him on the sidelines. I thought it was really cool of Rick to drop me an email, even if it was just a hello and a question. I also want to say that anyone else I have commented on over the years, particularly Anna Kournikova, please drop me an email. On second thought, Anna you can just drop by the house.

I was expecting a third place finish in my first ever fantasy baseball league, which I signed up for back at the end of February. I must confess I only sparingly managed my team this season, I did check the team out on a weekly basis. I made a total of three moves all season, swapping out injured players and just deciding to ride out the season with the team I had. I felt I had a strong team and battled my way to finish the regular season in third place in the six team league. I fluctuated between second and third place the entire season. All of us were about 30 games back from the first place team the entire season.

This being my first year of fantasy baseball, I was not quite sure how the games worked and I must confess I am still a little confused at the scoring. The last I checked I was losing my game in the semifinals. Then I sign on tonight and find out that not only did I make the final, but I beat the powerhouse G-ville Goats led by one of the greatest minds in fantasy sports in a thriller 6-5. Not bad for a wiffle ball team playing their first year in the big leagues.

Sure there was some luck involved, Okay, a lot of luck was involved. The league was much smaller than was initially anticipated and I think two of the teams managers got lost somewhere. Not that I did any super managing myself, but I did check for injuries when I remembered. I now look forward to an off season as champion and welcome all comers next year to come and take my title.

I won this Baseball Card on EBay last night. But why? Why would I want a Gem Graded 1989 Billy Ripken Fleer Card? Well, I did, and it is for kind of a funny reason that I was reminded about recently by Scott Wood of Shady Spring Tigers fame.

All I will mention, other than what I have already mentioned, is that the card is famous as an error card. Though I would not say the snafu is an error, just something that got by the editors unnoticed. A little hazing perhaps from fellow players on the day the photo was taken. The card has made Billy Ripken famous for an otherwise quiet career. Envy my Gem Rated 10 1989 Billy Ripken Fleer Baseball Card.