Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
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I'm watching live baseball! I just flipped the remote over to something on ESPN Classic called "ESPN Classic Vintage Live: Negro League Baseball presented by Jordan Brand". It's the Bristol Barnstormers vs. the Birmingham Black Barons. I have no idea who these players are, but it's sure nice to see some live baseball, no matter who is playing. They're also doing some Negro Leagues reminiscing. As I write, it's tied 8-8 in the eighth innning.
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Seems appropriate that baseball would show up on the scene the day the Winter Olympics ended. I'm a big fan of Swedish winter sports, a leftover from my three years spent enduring the long, dark winters of Scandinavia. I've been on a bit of a high all day long, ever since the Swedish hockey team won the gold medal this morning, beating arch-rival Finland 3-2.
It's hard to underestimate how big a deal this is in Sweden. Sweden had won Olympic and World Championship hockey gold before, but never in a context where all the top NHL players participated. This victory puts this hockey team into the very top circle of all-time Swedish sports legends, alongside Ingemar Stenmark and Björn Borg. They'll be talking about Nicklas Lidström's slapshot, and Henrik Lundqvist's last-second save forever. An instant classic.
I've spent the afternoon browsing Swedish websites for reactions. My favorite was listening to the Swedish Radio highlights (be patient, it's a little slow to load), featuring all five goals, plus the frantic final minute where Lundqvist made his save. Even if you don't understand Swedish, I'll bet it's kinda fun to listen to, because the radio announcer goes absolutely bonkers. Plus, the guy speaks so fast, he's hard to understand even if you speak Swedish. But the emotions are clear.
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That's why I think I'm going to like the World Baseball Classic. Because for smaller countries like Venezuela and the Dominican Republic, the chance to compete in your national sport is something special. I'm American, and I should probably root for my own country, but I don't think if we win, it will be a big deal for us. I'm kinda hoping one of the smaller countries wins. It would mean so much more to them.
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A Birmingham player steals third, and scores on an error. Seems like an appropriate way to win a Negro League tribute game. Black Barons win, 9-8.
One of these days, Finland's going to beat Sweden in one of these finals, and it'll be like the Red Sox finally beating the Yankees in a big game. It's gotta really hurt to lose to your rivals because of a broken stick on the opening faceoff of the final period.
This does not sound boring to me at all, but then again I'm imagining battlements and valkyries and Heavy Metal-esque bodyhugging armor.
Thank God that most of them can speak English too since they have one of the world's most impenetrable languages.
This does not sound boring to me at all, but then again I'm imagining battlements and valkyries and Heavy Metal-esque bodyhugging armor.
Ken Morrow - 1980
Steve Yzerman - 2002
Brendan Shanahan - 2002
I think we just ordered pepperoni.
NY Daily News Article:
http://tinyurl.com/kx822
Although Salo was the winning goalie for the Lillehammer gold medal, so he wasn't quite as reviled as Buckner. At least he did have something good on his resume before his gaffe.
They may have spoke 3 languages, however, English was not usually one of them! Mostly Finnish, Swedish, Russian/German.....I pretty much had to learn Finnish quick, especially since Armenians (which I am 50%) were about as hard to find as American-born cabbies in NYC.....
Bob, believe it or not, Finnish is not that hard to pick up. It is pronounced as its written which hepls tremendously. I suppose speaking another language other than English gave me an advantage (though Armenian is next to impossible if you are not born into it) though....Funny thing - my ex-wife was 'Satu' which means fable, but sattu (extra pronounciation on the 2nd t) means 'in pain,' which is what happens to my mind when I think about her now! Hah!
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