Beard-Off For Autism

Non-baseball news here, but nonetheless important!

Loyal Reader(s)... a few months back, as you may recall, a bunch of us took part in the "Walk Now for Autism Speaks!" event in South Jersey. While our team was a rousing success, the overall event fell a little bit short of their goal. Being the charitable folks that we are, a handful of us bloggers and blog-friends have decided to take it upon ourselves to cut into that deficit with a good old fashion Beard-Off!

What does that mean?

Well, for one entire month, we will forgo our razors and shaving cream and let those facial hairs grow au-natural! There will be no backing out, there will be no trimming up, there will be no excuses!

1. The "shave-in" will commence at 7pm this evening with a fresh blade for my trusty Gilette Fusion razor.
2. Competitors will be asked to raise money throughout the course of the month with a minimum goal of $150/participant. Progress photos and reports will be provided for anyone who chooses to sponsor me!
3. On Saturday, October 15th, judging will commence with awards for the "Best Beard," "Homeless Beard," "Longest Beard," etc. At that point, shaving will be allowed, however not mandatory... I for one am vowing right now to continue my beard for as long as the Phillies are in the playoffs!

What can you do to help?

Well, you can donate to my cause, of course! Any assistance is helpful as I am setting a personal goal of $500 raised. Not a penny of this goes to me and it all gets funneled directly to Autism Speaks!  

Click the image below to donate online!

Thanks for your help and support!

Lunch Time Link Dump

• From the Platoon Advantage, I've gained a new perspective on the "mallparks" that are modern day baseball stadiums. Sure, the Build-A-Bear Workshops and EA Sports Video Game booths may be a distraction from what you just spent $30+ to see, but with a child's attention span what it is, easing him into the game might just be the best approach. I know I couldn't sit still for 3 hours when I was a kid and there are times even today where I just want to walk around and people watch a bit. Old parks have charm and history, but little else to occupy your time if you're a child. Thinking of "mallparks" as an investment in the future of baseball fans is actually kind of brilliant... Not that this means I'm having a kid any time soon.   

• The more I read and write about baseball, the more I want to learn. So while doing a little digging into some local baseball history, I stumbled across a monumental bit of baseball history that is practically in my own back yard. Hinchliffe Stadium was one of the first Negro League stadiums and one of only three that still stand today. It was used by the Patterson school district until 1997 and it currently sits high on the list of America's most endangered historic sites, but there appears to be a plan in place to renovate the site. It's a graffiti covered, overgrown mess right now, but I'm definitely adding a visit to this site to my list of lazy Sunday projects.

• Who is the most hated player in your team's history? An interesting question if you're a Phillies fan. JD Drew gets votes for refusing to sign with the Phillies. Scott Rolen gets votes for basically whining his way out of town. Adam Eaton gets votes for crapping the bed for 3 years and somehow still getting a World Series ring. Ivan DeJesus cost us Ryne Sandberg. Danny Tartabull cost $2M and never got a single hit. Von Hayes never lived up to the 5-4-1 hype. Mitch Williams choked in the World Series. Billy Wagner and Curt Schilling thought they were too good for this town. Freddy Garcia earned $10M for one single win. Rod Barajas and Wes Helms couldn't hit worth a lick in red pinstripes, but come back to haunt us year after year... man, this list is getting long. Who would you choose? 

• Someone with the Yankees "accidentally" forwarded private info of all their season ticket holders to about 2,000 contacts. The list of info has popped up all over the internet in the past few days. Apparently, should some less than honest individual come across this list and decide to log into an account that isn't theirs, they could easily steal tickets by forwarding them to a different email address. Fortunately, Yankees fans are all upstanding citizens... right?

• Apparently attendance numbers are at record lows for most MLB stadiums so far this year. The Yankees set a new low water mark in three consecutive days and teams in the midwest have been drawing crowds of under 10,000 regularly. No issues in Philadelphia where I'm still crammed in like a sardine in my outfield seats. But some would argue that baseball is as healthy as ever right now. How? Cable TV revenue. Blackout restrictions are a bit difficult to explain, but the general idea is that the MLB Extra Innings package does not air games when a cable network in that area considers the team to be local to the area and has rights to the game themselves. Which basically means MLB Network gives way to PHL17 in South Jersey and the Phillies can instead cash in on cable revenue. For teams like the Houston Astros who might have down attendance, they cash in on most of the state of Texas getting their games as part of the cable package. Even worse are teams like Boston who have a controlling stake in their own cable network. NESN charges somewhere in the $3 range for each cable bill in the New England area that carries their channel. So every cable subscriber in the New England area pays about $30/year to an arm of the Red Sox... so who says baseball is failing?

• Tickets go on sale on May 9th for the Phillies ALS Phestival. I've gone a few times in the past, and while prices went up and options went down for this year, $25 for a handful of autographs and a meet and greet with some players is a pretty good deal. I'd recommend ordering at 9am on the dot, because this thing typically sells out in like 10 minutes. Maybe Cole Hamels will be less of a D-bag this year.

• I grabbed this book on Half.com the other day called "The Baseball Fan's Bucket List." It's exactly what it sounds like and while a lot of the items are a little obvious (visit Fenway), or far fetched (throw out a first pitch), there are definitely a few items I would really like to do. Attend a Little League and College World Series is among them. I'm going to work on compiling a list of 100 items for my own baseball bucket list (some of which I've already completed) and hopefully have something up in the next week or two. 

Breakfast Time Link Dump!

In an effort to make these links a little more enjoyable, I'm going to be adding a little more commentary to each blurb than I have in the past. Nice suggestion, Greg!

• In Judgement Day news, a couple of nerds from U Penn developed a robot capable of throwing out the first pitch at the Phillies game last night. Part of me wants to make a joke about Skynet, but the more I think about it the less impressed I am. Really? A Penn education and a baseball throwing robot is the best you got? I'm pretty sure this very same robot came as an erector set when my dad was a kid and he never got to display it at a Phillies game. Ridiculous. 

• In response to my commentary on pistachio girl, the legendary Photographer N. shared with me a link to a friend of his' blog that takes us on a trip in the way back machine to the Phillies vendor days of 1977. Sodas for $.80 and 2 hot dogs on 1 bun! Clearly I was born in the wrong generation!

• You've probably seen this Keenan Cahill on YouTube before, but now he's rocking out with Brian Wilson and Cody Ross of the San Francisco Giants. I want to hate Brian Wilson because of that ridiculous beard, but damn do I wish that beard was pitching for my team. Videos like this make him hard to hate, check it out:

 

• To the surprise of no one, The Philly Phanatic, who recently celebrated a birthday, was named by Forbes magazine as the top mascot in sports. But you already knew that since you all read my guest post on ThatBallsOuttaHere last month! 

• Listeners of the ESPN Fantasy Focus podcast are aware of a certain theory they call "The Wandy Line." Basically, it's an arbitrary line in the rankings after which a starting pitcher isn't really worth keeping on your roster all season. Tristan Cockcroft ranked his top 100 pitchers today and I'd honestly have to say that anyone after Matt Garza isn't worth holding onto. "The Garza Line" just doesn't have that same ring to it. 

• Speaking of ESPN, the E60 piece they did on Carl Crawford this week was pretty interesting. The guy grew up in the slum of all slums, was discovered by Michael Bourn's dad and went on to become a regional MVP in Football, Basketball, and Baseball. He was good enough at football to get a scholarship to the University of Nebraska and he was drafted in the 2nd round by the Devil Rays. He was such a speedster in High School that he set records for stolen bases and didn't get caught once in his four years of school. He seems incredibly humble for such an amazing success story. 

• Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake was arrested the other day for stealing shirts from a Macy's Department store. In another article I read, it says he stole 6 shirts valued at $59.88. I make a decent living but it's still not in the same ballpark as Mike Leake. That said, even the cheapest T-shirt that I own cost about $10. I didn't even know Macys sold shirts for less than $10 each. I'm not even sure you can get a package of 6 Michael Jordan approved Hanes Undershirts for under $60! What the hell are you wearing, Leake? 

• Want an autograph of the 2010 Yankees including Joe Girardi, Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Mariano Rivera, Phil Hughes, Curtis Granderson, Brett Gardner, Dave Robertson, Jorge Posada, Chad Gaudin, and Robinson Cano? Looking for s stylish new pair of high heels to wear on a night out on the town with the man of your dreams? Well then, do I have the link for you! Seriously... it's an ebay auction and it's a for a good cause! 

• I mentioned it in something similar a few weeks back, but I just read today that the Los Angeles United Film Festival will be showing the Ballhawks movie about the guys who stand in the street outside Wrigley Field narrated by Bill Murray. These guys are pretty crazy, and as much as I bashed the idea last week, I'm officially adding "Ballhawk at Wrigley" to my baseball bucket list. It's right up there with "Kayak in McCovey Cove," "Visit the Field of Dreams," and "Attend a Phillies Induction to the Hall of Fame." 

• Easter is this Sunday... feel free to buy me this in lieu of dyed eggs or chocolate bunnies.