Ah, the Thursday before a long 3-day weekend. Today's going to draaaaag on isn't it? Here're some off-topic questions:

• What are you going to do over Labor Day weekend?
• Are you more excited for Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero World Tour?
• Are the Amish overrated as a society?
• What good books have you read recently?
• Would you rather: Have no arms, but could swim faster than Michael Phelps; or, have no legs, but could run slither on the ground than Usain Bolt can run?

After a solid victory last week the Seahawks are a little banged up, so it's probably not going to be a victory. Oh well, it's just the preseason. On to the videos!

This year, even though they're having quarterback trouble, the Bears are hungry:




The Bears' defense looks to be pretty strong this year. They might knock us around a little:




But the Seahawks' defense can deliver some hits, too:




And the Seahawks never back down:




I hope Holmgren uses this game as a tune-up for some of his playcalling:




Maybe with Seneca in, we can expect to see some trick plays:




Ultimately the Seahawks will fail:

I hope Scruffy and Christian don't mind, but I think we need to kick off this season with a video preview. You guys won't be able to embed videos in the comments, but you can still post the links to videos. It won't be as fun as last year (CURSE YOU, SBN 2.0!), but I hope we can still make the best of this new format. To the videos!

The Seahawks need to start this season (even thought it's the preseason) on a roll. We can't afford to mess things up like this guy:
Hopefully we can expect some fireworks from the passing game this year:
The defense is strong this year:
And we all know the offense needs to synchronize this year:
Once the Seahawks start the preseason 1-0 it'll be time to celebrate:

Finally, FINALLY, summer arrives this weekend. Temperatures down here in Portland are going to be pushing 100 degrees, and it looks like all you Seattleites will be enjoying near-90 degree temperatures. So, in celebration of summer, I'll crack open a beer.

Great Divide Samurai Ale isn't very well loved on beeradvocate.com, but I don't care. It's refreshing, it's tasty, and I enjoy it, goddammit.

via www.ratebeer.com

 

 

Poll

Summer and beer go together like:

• Vidro and hotdogs
• Sammy Hagar and tequila
• Jimmy Buffett and margaritas
• Washburn and underage girls

  55 votes | Results

Bronson Arroyo had a negative gamescore (Bill James' gamescore) for his pitching performance yesterday. I honestly thought that was impossible. His line:

IP: 1

H: 11

R: 10

ER: 10

BB: 1

K: 1

HR: 3

Gamescore: -9

 

To put this into perspective Jeff Weaver's 2007 April 28th start (0.1 IP, 6 ER) had a gamescore of 12. That's probably the worst performance from a starting pitcher that I can think of. What about you guys? What's the worst start you can think of?

Just check out ESPN.com's feed to my Google page from today:

via i72.photobucket.com

 

Random 75 word fact o' the day:

Math rock is a rhythmically complex, guitar-based style of experimental rock music. It is characterized by complex, atypical rhythmic dissonant that emerged in the late structures (including irregular stopping and starting), angular melodies, and chords.

A closely-related genre is post-rock, into which some of the same bands are classified; post-rock, however, tends to feature a "jazzier" drumming style. In many cases, post-rock is less technical, though this is not necessarily the case. As well, the dissonance common to many math rock bands is not as common in the post-rock genre (though it is still very present in some of the music).

 

Grand Theft Auto IV is released today. I put down my preorder on this puppy a couple of months ago, and if I could've skipped work today to play it, I would have. Unfortunately I had too much going on.

So, does anybody have it yet? Has anybody played it? Both Xbox Magazine and IGN have given it 10/10. IGN hasn't given any game a 10/10 since Soul Calibur in 1999.

Also, if anybody's down for some multiplayer on Xbox 360, my gamertag is Phildopip.

Poll

What are you looking to the most?

• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Mario Kart Wii
• Ninja Gaiden II
• Iron Man (movie)
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (movie)
• How babbys are formed

  105 votes | Results

Since the 2008 season is almost a month old now, I thought I'd take a stroll through Baseball Reference's 2008 leader boards to see if I could find some interesting things.

1. Albert Pujols has 27 walks (7 IBB) to only 7 strikeouts this year. He's putting up a Bonds-like .376/.535/.635 line right now.

2. Nate McLouth? Really? .333/.414/.627?

3. Kevin Kouzmanoff sure isn't making use of his majors-leading 113 at bats. .257/.286/.327.

4. How the frick does Paul Bako already have 2 triples? Hell, he's having a great year so far hitting .328/.411/.547. At the start of the 2007 season he was the worst offensive player in Yahoo Fantasy Baseball's estimation. You've come a long way, baby.

5. Manny Ramirez looks to be back in a big way. Last year he hit a disappointing .296/.388/.493. That was the first year his slugging had been below .550 since 1997. This year he's hitting .347/.413/.643. Though his BB/K ratio is looking pretty bad (10 walks to 26 strikeouts).

6. Emil Brown has 22 RBI already? WTF?

7. Ryan Howard is on pace for 237 strikeouts this year. Ruh rohs.

8. Michael Bourn's last 32 stolen base attempts: 31 steals, 1 time caught.

9. Jacoby Ellsbury career: 17 steals, 0 times caught.

10. Jose Lopez is tied for the lead in sacrifice hits with 4. The other players at the top of the list? Ryan Dempster, Braden Looper, Jeff Suppan, and David Eckstein. Uhh...

11. Kouzmanoff is having a bad year, but Tulowitzki is off to a worse start. He has made 93 outs in 112 plate appearances.

12. Cliff Lee. Huh? 31.2 innings, 11 hits surrendered, 2 RA, 1 ER, 2 BB, 29 K, 0.28 ERA, 1527 ERA+.

13. Tim Lincecum is good.

14. So is Ben Sheets.

15. John Smoltz, age 41, is striking out 12 batters per 9 innings. Too bad his shoulder is sore and he's going to see Dr. James Andrews.

16. Frankie Rodriguez is leading the league in saves. #2? Mr. George Sherrill.

17. Felix is leading the majors in strikeouts. Cool.

18. Roy Halladay already has 3 complete games. Is this guy's arm ever going to explode?

19. What happened to Fausto Carmona's control? Last year he walked 61 guys in 215 innings. This year he has walked 22 in 28 innings. However, his ERA is 17 points lower than last year.

20. Similarly, Tom Gorzelanny's control has disappeared. 68 walks in 207 innings last year. 22 walks in 22 innings this year. However, his era is 458 points higher than last year.

21. Barry Zito is not good.

22. Even though this is Felix's 4th year in the majors, he's still the 4th youngest player currently playing.