I know what you’re probably thinking. You’re thinking that My Boy KERSHAW!1! is a bust, and that I should stop writing about him. Well, to you I say “suck it”.

Yes, his last outing was terrible. It was. 10 hits and 5 earned runs in only 3 innings of work does not taste pleasant no matter how much nacho cheese you squeeze onto it. And the two Lembecks doesn’t even cancel out the three walks.

But fear not, gentle readers, for I am not losing faith. In fact, in KERSHAW!1!’S sabbatical from the starting rotation I have grown even stronger in my belief that he is the next big thing. Why do I still believe? Simple:

1. Great stuff - The kid’s got a high 90s fastball and the junk to change it up (including the greatest curveball on Earth, Uncle Charlie).

2. Youth - Let us not forget that he was only drafted two years ago and still isn’t old enough to purchase alcohol in California. It’s understandable that he can’t dominate the team that went to the World Series last year quite yet.

3. Culture - I’m not talking about his Texas upbringing, I’m talking about the Dodgers’ culture with young talent. The Boys in Blue have a great reputation for grooming young talent through their system and putting them in the best position to succeed. So let’s stop with the Darren Dreifort references already.

4. Strikingly Good Looks - Hey, this is LA; can’t hurt, can it?

So buck up, everyone. My Boy KERSHAW!1! is gonna be just fine. So do like I did, and put down the razor. No one likes a cutter.

In honor of the poster boy of choking, Greg Norman, leading the British Open after 3 rounds only to shoot a 77 and finishing in third, we wanted to bring you a list of choke artists.

“God, I hate Sundays.”

But here at Pyleoflist we strive to set ourselves apart from the other bloggers out there (have you ever smelled some of those folks?). So instead of telling you about the choke jobs (stop snickering) you hear about every time someone squanders a chance at history (ie The Perfect Pats or the Yankees going up 3-0 in the 04 ALCS) we’ve decided to bring you the second rate chokers. These are the guys and teams in sports that couldn’t achieve greatness, but couldn’t implode enough to etch onto our collective sports memory either. Enjoy! (more…)

I don’t always get excited for movies because most of ‘em these days are for chicks, queers, snot-nosed brats and slightly older punk kids that wouldn’t know hard work if it rode over them in a raised Chevy Silverado. But I went to see the Dark Knight ’cause I understand Batman. A heroic white man trying to clean up his city through hard work and ass-kicking, not welfare programs. If Batman was a baseball player, you bet your sweet, hot ass that he’d act like he’d done it before and that he was gonna do it again.

Enough of the foreplay, here’s what I thought about the movie: (more…)

In a previous list about teams that should move, I (JP) made some comments that hockey fans took umbrage with in the comments section. I posted my response in the comments too, which was essentially that Americans don’t like hockey, and left my email address so that hockey fans could debate the topic with me. To my surprise Steve from one of the biggest hockey blogs on the interwebs, Kukla’s Korner, (specifically the Eye on the Media section) took the challenge. The following is our unedited debate. Please vote for the winner in the poll at the end. (more…)

Iz can come bak now?

If you’re anything like us, you’re sick of the way the media idolizes Brett Favre. They’ve treated him with kid gloves during infidelity, drug addiction, bad performance and the annual retirement circus. Let’s just put it this way, if A-Rod was acting like Favre he would be drawn and quartered on live television. This unretirement situation is no different. Much of the media thinks the Packers should beg on their knees for Favre’s return or stupidly grant his unconditional release. The worst part is that if he comes back and plays well, we’ll get months of puff pieces. If he stinks (like most of the last 4 years), they’ll create enough excuses to power every single automobile in America for 2 years. If excuses were a valid fuel source, of course.

To do our part in keeping Favre retired and out of the public eye (although Disney will probably pay him $10 million/year to be an analyst), we’ve created a cautionary list of the worst unretirement decisions known to man. These guys could probably give you some good advice, Brett. (more…)

I’ll never forget my first live boxing match, even though I wish I could today. I’ve always been a fan of the sweet science, so seeing a full card live was very exciting… especially since the tickets were free. The undercard fights were mildly entertaining but the atmosphere was what really caught my attention. There was a distinct feeling of controlled chaos, enough to keep you on edge but not enough to put you on alert. Testosterone ruled the auditorium as groups of men, young and old, whistled and cat called not just at the ring girls and waitresses, but at the female fans unfortunate enough to pass by their section. This made me very uncomfortable. These same men cut the silence of a slow beat in the fight with their instructions to “work the jab” and ”go to the body”. As the night progressed, their message became less about playing armchair trainer and more about entertainment as they almost primaly urged these boxers to push forward and brawl, strategy be damned. This didn’t make me uncomfortable. In fact I half agreed with them because as much as I understand styles and strategy, I wanted some action. This afternoon I feel terrible about that. (more…)

While it’s not the biggest story on ESPN.com this morning (thanks to Favre-watch Day 142) it is there.  Here in San Antonio it’s Front page news. 

Hometown fighter Oscar Diaz stepped into the ring last night at Municiple Auditorium against Delvin Rodriguez to battle for the Untied States Boxing Association crown.  He stepped in, but he was carried out.  We know, we saw it live and in person.  JP and myself were there. 

Diaz and Rodriguez put on the show of the night for 10 rounds.  Each fighter landed some crushing blows but as the round numbers got higher in became obvious that Diaz could only win the fight by KO.  Even with that being the case though Diaz was relaxed and never really seemed to be pressing.  His eyes were swollen shut but he stood toe to toe with the taller, longer-reaching Rodriguez.  As the 10th round came to an end Diaz gave a hop step and crached his gloves together, as if to show a little frustration; maybe even a resolve to put his opponet away in the next 2 rounds.  He wouldn’t get the chance.

 As the whistle blew for fighters to come back to center-ring for round 11 Diaz stood, swayed and fell to the mat.  TKO-Rodriguez, but that wasn’t important to anyone in the building anymore.  Perimedics rushed to Diaz.  At this point I’ve read that ESPN2 who was broadcasting cut away.  Perimedics rolled a unresponsive, but breathing Diaz onto a backboard begin to remove him from the ring.  A quieted crowd watched it all.  One woman yelled out, “We love you, Oscar.” as a sob broke her voice.  Devin Rodriguez addressed the crowd asking for prayers for his opponet.  Oscar was carried up through the crowd of 1,200 or so (most of which were still frozen in place)

In the early hours of the morning Diaz recieved surgery to release pressure from a badly swollen brain.  But there was no bleeding.  I’m told thats a very postitive sign.  Doctors are not willing to estimate whether Diaz will have any permenant brian damage, which means it’s possible.

Pray (if that’s your thing) for Oscar and his family.  But don’t forget Devin Rodriguez.  This will most likely be one of those fights that changes two careers forever. 

So, let’s not beat around the bush. They gave Andre Rodriguez or whatever the hell his name is a blog, where he probably writes about tacos and crap. First off, his dad probably worked in a kitchen somewhere so he and his 13 brothers and sisters should know something about food. Secondly, I want folks to know that it’s mighty disrespectful to the game for some young punk to be writin’ when he should be taking some extra BP. Only proven vets like myself should get those special priveleges. Lastly, what the hell is a blog anyway? I only use my computer for ordering discontinued motorcycle parts, checking weather for ridin’ on the weekends [Ed Note: The offseason, safely and with a helmet], and porn. And just regular good old ‘Merican porn with one guy and one girl. None of this two black midgets and a show pony crap. When I complained to the Skipper about it he sent me to the PR department where they gave me some 539 Intern to blog for me (who added that gay sentence about motorcycle safety). Basically, I tell him what to say while I pine tar my bat and he types it for me.

I decided to review movies because I think these new Hollywood hotshots are getting away with a little too much these days. They’re pussifying America with some of this artsy BS. So, I’ll speak the truth and tell you what I think of these movies. The first movie to review is this robot movie called “Wally”. (more…)

I’ve written about my love for Rock N Jock before, but now it’s gone to an entirely new level:

I’ve created a petition to help bring back Rock N Jock that I need you to sign. More details can be found here.

Alright…here we go again. So Brett Favre is still not sure what he wants. One day he’s retired, the next he wants to return to Green Bay, day after that he wants the Packers to grant him an unconditional release, presumably so he can sign elsewhere.
On top of that you have fans rallying together, literally, behind Favre. Adam and Erick Rolfson organized a rally outside of Lambeau Field on Sunday and will continue the rallies each week until Favre is reinstated as the starting signal caller. They have even gone so far as to call for an emergency meeting of stockholders to help “control the fate of our quarterback.”
A few weeks ago I tried my best to give some advice to Shaq and Kobe so they could find some closure and move on. I again see a void of an impartial third party willing to step in and help the Packers fans and Brett make the best of this situation. I’m no mental health care professional but I’ll do my best to talk some common sense here. (See Dr. Phil, that is all you have to do to avoid 85% of the problem you get into.)

It would be an epic battle though.  The man who’s started 253 consecutive games against the Madden curse.   
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With all the news surrounding Clay Bennett’s heartless decision to move the Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma City, we decided to show our solidarity with our Pacific Northwest brethren by creating a list of teams that should actually move to another city. For one reason or another, these teams have worn out their welcome, aren’t appropriately placed or are completely underappreciated by their fan base. Noticably absent: The Sonics.

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In my daily perusal of the blogosphere, I sometimes get taken on informational journeys to an unknown but intriguing destination.

I started with Deadspin’s revamped Blogdome, where Angry T’s article about the worst tattoos in sports caught my eye. It was entertaining and all but the last athlete on the list, MMA fighter Melvin Costa, truly caught my attention. He makes the list for sporting a “I have a small penis” tattoo and the “neo-Nazi” chest ink pictured below:

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You’ve seen the new Mountain Dew ad campaign, yes? Dew-mocracy, three new flavors, one will stay forever.

I worry about the future when we get new flavors of soft drinks. As an avid Coca-cola drinker I wake up in cold sweats thinking about the introduction of new Coke in 85. The soft drink market is fickle. New Coke and Crystal Pepsi can do damage to the original brand. It got me thinking about the next generation products that are thrown at us that, not only fail, but drag down the original.

So, as a warning to Madison Avenue, I give you my top 5 next generations that ruined the original.
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