Tuesday, May 29, 2007

My Five Year Old Heckler

I took our kids to the Giants game the other night while Mrs. Scott stayed home to be with our baby soon to be. It was fireworks night. Our five year old started a pretty impressive streak of heckling of the Rockies bullpen. This lasted for three innings, almost non-stop. He took cues from everybody else, daddy included, but held his own. It was incredible some of the things he thought to yell. He even gained somewhat of a cult following from some of the fans sitting behind him.

"Hey number 3-2. You're a big zero!" "Hey, you're a popsicle head!" I wish I could remember more. Great start. We'll see how much can rub off on him and how much he can create by himself.

Friday, May 18, 2007

The Voice of God Is Back

Roy Steele, the PA announcer at the Oakland Coliseum for the A's is back this season after more than a year absence. Roy is easily the second most recognizable (next to the Yankees' Bob Shepherd) PA voice in baseball. He started doing the stadium PA in 1968 when the A's moved here from Kansas City. He had a health issue that apparently included some form of acid reflux that affected his voice.

Steele has lived with the nickname "the Voice of God" for almost his entire career. A young radio announcer for the A's in 1970, named Jon Miller - yes, that Jon Miller - was in the stands one game and his booming, baritone voice came over the PA system. It sounded to Miller like it was the voice of God. The rest is history, as they say.

I have attended nearly 500 A's games in my life, and Roy is truly one of those memorable fixtures of my life. I, just like Jon Miller, do a pretty mean imitation of Roy. I loved his announcement of Jose Canseco the best. Dave Stewart and Mark McGwire were up there too, as was Shooty Babbitt.

He's predictable in many ways, which makes a great part of his personality. He always gave the starting lineups by starting with, "Leading off for the Athletics, number xx,..." then would say, "batting second," "batting third," etc, all the way through ninth. Except for fifth, which he would start out, "In the fifth position, number 39, Daaaaaaave Parker...designated hitter." With the DH in the AL, he would conclude with, "Warming up in the bullpen, today's starting pitcher for the Athletics, number 34, Daaaaave Stewart."

If you've never heard Roy Steele, book the next flight to Oakland and enjoy. Welcome back, Roy.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

It Ain't Over Til It's Over

I watched the end of the A's game today on TV. The A's were down 7-5 to the Indians with 2 outs and 2 strikes and nobody on in the bottom of the 9th (that's one pitch away from losing) and they won. A hit followed by a Milton Bradley homer tied it. The next two batters got hits before Jack Cust blasted a walk-off homer. The A's won 10-7.

Just another reason baseball is a better sport than football, basketball, hockey or soccer. It's the only one of these games that is never, ever over until it's finally over. Not even after the final strike is it over, because the catcher must catch the ball to make the putout.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

A-Rod Lands Yanks In Cellar

Where has all of A-Rod's home runs and records for the first month of the season placed the Yankees? In dead last place. Kinda smacks of self-serving, contract year showboating, doesn't it? Hitting all the home runs when they don't mean anything because the rest of your team is terrible. There IS an "I" in "team" after all.