Cover Boy!

“If I did something stupid, something I shouldn’t be doing, it would be all over the nation. I would be such a hypocrite, I’d let everyone down. That’s why I go to the ballpark, and I go home. Park. Home. Park. Home.” – Josh Hamilton

Great quote by Josh from the June 2, 2008 issue of Sports Illustrated, where he is the focus of the cover story. It covers a lot of the same stuff that has already been covered in countless other stories, but it covers some new ground as well. Well worth a read, and it is awesome to see him getting on the cover. I was hoping he’d get a cover somewhere. Also an interesting tidbit, where he says he finds baseball ‘boring’ to watch. Probably because he doesn’t get to watch himself.

This now begins my quest to track down a copy of the magazine here. I’d love to get it signed, but I can’t see Hamilton doing many signings in Saskatchewan in the near future. Love the picture on the front.  Its amazing how great a picture can be when it focuses on something other than what you’d expect – a cover photograph that doesn’t even picture his face.

New Banner!

I finally found some nice Rangers pictures to remake my banner.  I decided to use a similar style to my old banner, showcasing a few new custom cards and a cool photo in the middle.  Action shots got lost in the resizing a bit, so these two cards needed to be up close, portrait style shots.  Let me know what you think of it, please!

What a difference a year makes….

I was searching google to find some new images to update my banner and custom cards at the top of the page, when I stumbled across this article from last year’s Spring Training.   Strange to think that 15 months ago he was looking for a spot in baseball, and now he is making an early charge for a Triple Crown.

Quotes…

A random collection of quotes I have stumbled across while reading throughout the day….

“There are very few guys I really like to watch play, and he’s a guy I like to watch play, He’s got sick power to all fields. Every year you hear people say, ‘Yeah, we drafted this kid, he’s a five-tool player,’ and you never see it. This guy is a true five-tool guy”   –Eddie Guardado

“He’s really a freak of nature.”  –Lance Berkman

“He’s just got it all. … All you can do is sit back and say, ‘Wow!”  –Gerald Laird

“He’s got uncanny power. There’s a lot of guys that have a lot of big pop in BP and stuff, but this guy’s for real in-game power.”  –Rudy Jaramillo

“He missed four years and then he comes to the big leagues and basically is a man amongst boys.”  –Ian Kinsler

“He’s one of those guys you can’t make a mistake to.”  –Brian Bass

“He does absolutely everything, and busts his butt everyday.”  –CJ Wilson

That crazy eBay….

As I posted a few days ago, one of the reasons I haven’t been picking up a ton of Hamilton cards lately is because he is hitting the bejesus out of the ball.  Another is that I haven’t been doing a whole lot of selling on eBay lately because I have been a bit disturbed at the turn some of their policies have taken.

Ebay has changed it so that sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers.  Interesting.  To me, that doesn’t really make it feedback anymore.  Its more like in kindergarten when everyone just gets ‘Good’ written on their papers, as opposed to an accurate ranking of how they did.  I understand it in kindergarten – I mean kids have 12 years to be disillusioned with the education system, might as well start them out easy.  I don’t really understand it on eBay.  I’d like to think everyone on eBay has made it past kindergarten successfully.

In my time on eBay, I have left exactly one negative feedback.  I was selling some DVDs, and within about 5 minutes of the auction ending, the guy emailed me to say that he wasn’t paying because he hadn’t won all of the ones he was bidding on.  Lovely.  So, its not like I neg buyers willy nilly.  I just don’t like having my options taken away from me.  The changes were enacted to protect buyers from retaliatory negatives, and to encourage honest feedback.  But apparently, only for sellers.  Buyers get the kindergarten treatment.

I have given this a lot of thought – as I am not arguing that eBay’s feedback system is perfect.  I have pointed out flaws in it well before they announced their later changes.  I had also proposed a few simple changes that would improve things.

Namely – feedback needs to be ‘blind’ until both parties have left it.  Seller leaves feedback whenever they feel like it, and buyer does likewise.  Once both the buyer and seller have left their feedback – the comments and ratings are released to their profiles.  This system is not perfect, but I think it gives the chance for much more honest feedback going both ways, as opposed to sellers getting honest feedback, and buyers getting pats on the back.  Potentially, negative feedback could be combined with the dispute system already in place, to trigger either the non-paying bidder (NPB) or non-performing seller (NPS) processes.  There are lots of possibilities.  This could also address those eBay members who just don’t bother to leave feedback at all – their ranking will suffer.

Those are just my thoughts that have been rattling around in my head.  Feel free to poke holes in my master plan, or maybe even offer up some kudos.  And for those of you who tune in looking for Hamilton cards – don’t worry, my first cards of him in a Rangers uni are in transit.

All-Star Voting!

Help send Josh to the All-Star Game!

You can vote 25 times – so with me, and the one or two people who check this entry out – that’s like 50 votes.   Seriously though – of all the guys in MLB, nothing would make me happier than to see Josh Hamilton suiting up for the ASG.  Maybe the Home Run Derby….  I don’t want to get greedy or anything.

AL Player of the Month

Link To Dallas News Story

This definitely could be one reason why I haven’t been picking up too many of his cards.  I figured he was in contention for the award, based on his numbers, and its nice to see him get rewarded for it.