Friday Fryer (June 1, 2007)

The fists were flying in the Cubs dugout this afternoon. This brouhaha matched the Cubs starting pitcher, Carlos Zambrano and the Cubs starting catcher, Michael Barrett. Sure, this came right after Zambrano got tattooed by the Braves hitters, but come on now. You don’t fight your teammate, you fight the opposition! Instead of throwing haymakers at your catcher, beam the next hitter in the head.

Even the infamous Cubs’ goat would be ashamed for what happened between Zambrano and Barrett. Disciplinary action is expected on Saturday. Nonetheless, the Chicago Cubs get a Friday Fryer nomination for this fiasco.

A-Rod week started off bad when a New York City rag ran a photo of him and a blond, big-chested stripper together up in Canada. If that was not bad enough, he pulled what I consider to be a good trick in the game that night versus the Toronot Blue Jays. While running the bases with two outs and a pop up about to be caught, ole A-Rod yell “HA”. This sound made the Blue Jays’ player drop the ball. Hence, the game continued, and the Yankees thereafter won the game.

There is nothing in the rule book that says that base runners cannot say or grunt anything on the base pads. Heck, folks in the stands do it during the entire game. So what is the big deal? Well, the Blue Jays of course complained. Now, A-Rod’s own manager, Joe Torre has blasted him.

Poor A-Rod. He gets no breaks and the only love he gets, he has to pay for. If he makes him feel any better, he got one of the nominations for the Friday Chair this week!

I had a lot of hope in the Philadelphia Phillies before the season began. Of course, the Phillies proceeded to get off to their usual 1-6 start. Recently, however, things began to look up. After sweeping the Braves in Atlanta last week, the Phillies were, for the first time, above .500. This was short lived, for the Phillies were swept at home by the D-Backs, and tonight, were blown out 13-0 by the San Francisco Giants.

The Sixers have three picks in the first round of the NBA Draft. Unfortunately, none of the three picks are in the top 10. It is suppose to be a deep draft, but the Sixers have many holes to fill. No title is in sight for this club anytime soon.

The Philadelphia Flyers were the worse team in the NHL last year. Yet, they could not even win the NHL Draft Lottery. I do not expect next season to be as bad as the one we just witnessed, but I also do not expect much improvement. This team is not going anywhere, sadly, until Ed Snider gives up control of the club.

The only hope that the suffering fans of Philadelphia have is with the Philadelphia Eagles. In order to not put a curse on the upcoming season, I will say no more. Except that the Philadelphia sports fan gets a nomination for the Chair this week.

This week’s hissy fit from Kobe all started because of an unnamed source with the Lakers telling a newspaper reporter that Kobe did not Shaq to return to the Lakers a few years back. Kobe claims that this was not true and then demanded a trade from the Lakers. Hours later, however, he recanted the trade demand.

Now, if memory serves me right, Kobe and Shaq did not like each other very much. Actually, the hostility between the two drove Phil Jackson away for a year. Yet, it seems, that is not the case today. Talk about revising history.

Kobe was caught cheating on his wife. In order to earn her forgiveness, he brought the Mrs. A multi-million dollar diamond ring. May I ask, what will Kobe give all of the Lakers fans for his actions this week. That is a good question. I can tell you though that Lakers fans, and basketball fans in general, would like to give you the Chair. So to honor them, you, Kobe Bryant, get the Friday Fryer Chair for this week.

Until next Friday, AMF.