Back in the City

1) After 5 days at my parents' house, on the side of a mountain in the outskirts of Roanoke, VA, I came to realize something about living in the middle of the city: its never dark, and you never see the stars. I know that sounds gay, but I rather enjoyed 50 degree, sunny weather, and being able to see the stars at night. Maybe it was because I was high...but regardless of that, its good to be back.

2) Do you think there is anything to the latest jinx in sports, The Gatoraid Plague? Both Dwyane Wade and Shaun Livingston appeared in this commercial, both are out for the year. If I'm Derek Jeter, I'm not playing any pickup basketball games during Spring Training.

3) Spring Training baby!!! The games have begun, and the Braves 2-hit their early spring nemesis, the Yellow Jackets from Georgia Tech (after no hitting them 2 years ago). I kinda wish they'd lost, however, because the last time (only time) they lost to Tech was '95, the year they won the World Series. Granted, that was with replacement players during the strike...but still. Also, lefty Matt Harrison looks an awful lot like The Next Great Braves Pitcher. Look for him to assume the role of Top Pitching Prospect in Baseball after both Philip Hughes (Yanks) and Homer Bailey (Reds) graduate to the bigs later this year.

4) From the "I Can Admit When I'm Wrong" department, I truly believe the Cubs can do a lot worse defensively in centerfield than Alfonso Soriano. He may take unorthadox routes to balls, but he has the athleticism and speed to compensate for it. Pay close attention to his fielding stats last year, particularly his zone rating and range factor, both of which are well above league average, and approaching Andruw territory. I'm not a huge Felix Pie fan, but I think Soriano is a very good middle of the lineup guy, and Matt Murton is massively underrated (check out his OBP!) I realize 200 games isn't a huge sample size, but he's getting better and better. He makes excellent contact, controls the strike zone, has decent speed and developing power. He's a sleeper pick for a batting title somewhere down the road...possibly even this year (and before you laugh, how many of you thought Freddy Sanchez would win it last year? Thats what I thought). Look for a full scale preview of The Only Teams That Matter over at MarkIsSweet.com later today. And by "only teams that matter" I mean the only teams that me and my closest friends care about, the Braves, Cubs, White Sox, Cardinals, Indians, Twins, Yankees, Angels, Reds and Astros. Ok Skurny, I'll throw the Tigers in there too...since I got to know them so well last year. Sure nobody wants to lose the world series, but isn't it nice to know your team is relevant again?? My team (the Braves) is mediocre, but I can't remember ever being so psyched for a baseball season before.