Chalk Outlines

It seems as if ML MVP Ryan Braun is now under investigation for use of performance enhancing drugs, ESPN reports.
Braun was notified during the playoffs that he failed a test and potentially faces a 50-game suspension.
Braun claims that the charges are B.S. and a spokesman for him said that he will be completely exonerated.

I do hope that there was some sort of false positive though. This game doesn’t need any more scandals and especially centered on someone like Braun who has helped make baseball fun for Milwaukee fans and the Brewers fun to watch.

One of the memorable moments of this past year featuring Braun was when he was trying to complete an inside-the-park homerun and fell twice rounding thirdbase getting tagged out after the second fall. The next day his teammates drew chalk outlines where he fell as if it had been the location of a crime scene.

Hopefully MLB doesn’t have to draw a chalk outline around his career.

I spent a lot of time watching coverage of the Winter Meetings on the MLB channel.
The MLB channel is excellent for those who like baseball. They have some great analysis, great highlights, a fantastic statistics show and some great characters.

I always sort of thought that in some way it was a bit unfair that baseball players who earn millions of dollars during their playing careers can then just hop right in the TV booths and earn big dollars doing that after they retire. I always felt that those jobs were better suited for those who didn’t have the physical talents to play…LIKE ME, for example… and the players made better guests who could throw in an opinion now and then.
But I do have to say that MLB picked a couple of great characters to become regular analysts on the show. Kevin Millar, Mitch Williams and Sean Casey are all funny men and do have good insight and opinions about what they see. Harold Reynolds has been around for a while now and even Dan Plesac is decent. While not everyone they have brought through the studio is great, at least five guys don’t have me screaming at the screen that I can do better.

I take that back. I still could do better and certainly better than the regular dudes that generally host the shows.

I like to play poker but have rarely done so live except for the past four Sundays. I live near a place which recently opened up table games and with the US not so keen on online gambling this is the only place to go now.
I am not a gambler though. I have entered some free satellite tournaments hoping to advance to subsequent rounds where I could win money and then begin to turn that into more.
What I have found interesting is the number of people in this place at 6 am when I have to go to register to play for the 9am tournament. And there are people sleeping in chairs, eating, playing cards, slots, etc., much like we would find if we went to Atlantic City or Las Vegas.
I just find it a little strange to be right in my back yard though. Can the mob be far behind here in Delaware?

The show schedule is still very slow. I have only one more show booked for the balance of the year and then the start of the year is not looking so promising right now either. This does mean that I have to dig deep and find other things to do to generate revenue.
I seriously can’t wait for an administration change to one which is simply friendlier to business so that businesses can start making progress again. That is all that I will say from my stump currently. It is the holiday season and I swear that I just want to be jolly.

I would be jollier with a couple of new puppies. But I still can’t do it and these last 2 months without dogs in my life have been the longest since I was a little kid.

I’ll be 50 years old next Sunday. The start of my “Golden” years. Sure…HAHA. It seems like they will be more “Copper” than anything but at least I’ll have ten years to make them golden and hopefully my 60’s will be my “Retirement” years.

Done