Rick Ankiel

by trza on Aug 10, 2007 12:01 PM CDT

This is cool:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2967582

A very inspiring story in a brutal season for the Cardinals.

0 recs | Comment 19 comments

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

eh

he hit it off doug brocail :)

Forget Johnny Bench, we got Gerry "the Jet" Laird

by ab03 on Aug 10, 2007 12:07 PM CDT 0 recs

So ...

he's really good!

by BHill on Aug 10, 2007 12:23 PM CDT up 0 recs

Good for him

It really is an amazing story.

I'd love to see him as their starting RF next year.

Gas, brake, honk. Gas, brake, honk. Honk, honk, punch. Gas, gas, gas.

by thedirkatron on Aug 10, 2007 3:39 PM CDT 0 recs

Heck yeah

How can you not be rooting for this guy?

I will not get my comeuppance!

by Brian Thomas on Aug 10, 2007 4:14 PM CDT 0 recs

Ankiel's story

For those who don't remember:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=f_7PzR9H_54

But that river of tears has dried for all of us.

by trza on Aug 10, 2007 4:40 PM CDT 0 recs

re

I just think this is an amazing feat of Athletics.

To be able to make it to the majors as both a pitcher and a hitter---wow.

Benoit> Johan Santana as a starter. Fact.

by Sharky on Aug 10, 2007 11:13 PM CDT 0 recs

On the liberal media (All Things Considered)

...they were talking about Ankiel this afternoon. Some guy said that if he succeeds, his story is comparable to The Natural. Obviously there are some inconsistencies, but it's a pretty decent analogy.

The Ankiel meltdown seems like it was ages ago, but he's still a pretty young guy. Best of luck to him. Very inspirational.

You're just a very misguided individual, Dustin. -- Sharky

by Dustin on Aug 10, 2007 11:22 PM CDT 0 recs

All Things Considered

Man I miss that show. Does "As it Happens" still follow? Equally good.

PBS in D.C. is all dicked up. They switched to this asanine, polarizing format where they spend 60% of their time taking calls from phone lines that are designated either dem or repub (the other 40% is dry-as-a-desert CSPAN-like broadcasts).

So you have to wade through wack jobs from the far right and left, when, the fact of the matter is, I really don't give the remotest shit what John and Jane Doe think.

Repub line: "This is Myrtle from Gainesville, I'm callin to say that all these Jane Fonda Commies need to shut it and let our CINC kill these Iraquans that bombed 911. Black is negative, red is positive. Die hippieragheadlovers, die."

Dem line: "This is Jenny from Paso Robles, when are we gonna try Dumbya and and that haliburton stooge Cheney for high treason and war crimes on humanity? What's the diff between Bush and Hitler? Hitler was elected."

I wish I was exaggerating...

I will not get my comeuppance!

by Brian Thomas on Aug 10, 2007 11:47 PM CDT up 0 recs

Oh, dear god

regular people really suck at radio. On ATC I really look forward to the occasional wise words of longtime newsfolk like Daniel Shore.

Today I caught a piece about rookie ball players somewhere in Montana. It was just players, parents, and coaches all talking about the experience, pretty cool.

mmmmmm...64 slices of American cheese...

by t ball on Aug 11, 2007 12:04 AM CDT up 0 recs

Yep

I heard that too. There was a lot baseball on KERA today. Having recently moved from Austin where the public radio station plays music all day, it's awesome to have good talk radio back. "Think" is a terrific program. I don't think they had that when I lived here before.

You're just a very misguided individual, Dustin. -- Sharky

by Dustin on Aug 11, 2007 12:08 AM CDT up 0 recs

As it Happens

I don't think I've heard that one. I usually don't listen past ATC.

You'd think that DC would have the very best public radio, but when I was there in the late nineties that wasn't the case either. I don't remember it being as bad as you describe, though. Sad.

Sounds like a bunch of bloggers calling in.

They don't have All Things Considered in DC at all? That's just nuts. I swear they had it when I was there.

You're just a very misguided individual, Dustin. -- Sharky

by Dustin on Aug 11, 2007 12:10 AM CDT up 0 recs

As it happens

Its a Canadian show that used to, and may still, come on right after ATC (man I love Terry Gross). Similar format.

As far as D.C. goes, they did have the typical setup until roughly the New Year. Then they transitioned one station to all classical, and the other to all partisan-everyman-useless-call-in-crapfestivus.

If I want news now, I listen to Washington Post radio. It's ok.

I will not get my comeuppance!

by Brian Thomas on Aug 11, 2007 9:17 AM CDT up 0 recs

No As it Happens

Here's the programming schedule for KERA radio:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kera/guide.guidemain?t=1

The public radio here is just awesome. The locally produced "Think" is really great, and they have that "Radio Lab" on Fridays which is usually very interesting, too. They were both added to the schedule after I moved. The rest of it is a pretty standard NPR/PRI lineup.

In Austin they'd have Morning Edition, then go to music all day (sometimes it was great and other times boring -- but the DJ's got to play what they wanted to play and you have to respect that). Then Fresh Air with Terri Gross would come on at 3 o'clock, I think, followed by All Things Considered and then Marketplace. Then they'd go back to music. Some of the night time music on there was good. Can't remember the names of the shows. "Twine Time" or something like that was good.

Then on weekends they'd have something called Folkways which was sometimes pretty good but usually just terrible. It always got better around the time of the Kerrville festival when decent artists would be around to play in studio.

Not enough indie rock on KUT for me. They'd always mix in a little, especially with the daily live set on Eklecticos, but I worked in an office and could rarely listen to that. On late Friday afternoons they'd always play a bunch of Brazilian music, which I could never understand because it's not like Austin has a bunch of Brazilians and Portuguese living there.

So, yeah, generally I prefer the talk.

Go to KUT's website, though. They archive all the live performances on Eklecticos and a lot of them are really good, especially around SxSW time.

You're just a very misguided individual, Dustin. -- Sharky

by Dustin on Aug 11, 2007 12:55 PM CDT up 0 recs

KERA

I agree, pretty darn good radio. TV, much less so, IMHO. If I see one more Wayne Dyer or Suzie Ormon special I'll throw up in my mouth, punch a baby, and kick a puppy.

One major problem I have with PBS TV these days, other than the forementioned, is all these rock concerts, doo-wop specials, etc. Is this stuff really under-served in the market? Is there nowhere else to hear/see rock music? This just seem like a blatant attempt to pander to boomers for donations instead of programming according to real needs.

I'm going out to the backseat of my car with the woman I love, and I won't be back for 10 minutes!

by t ball on Aug 11, 2007 5:09 PM CDT up 0 recs

Yeah

KERA TV is pretty lacking.

You're just a very misguided individual, Dustin. -- Sharky

by Dustin on Aug 11, 2007 8:34 PM CDT up 0 recs

Ankiel

I saw Ankiel earlier this year at Round Rock - believe he hit 2 HR that day.

Really great story.

Baseball Time in Arlington

by jamcadbury on Aug 11, 2007 12:45 AM CDT 0 recs

Ankiel

did it again. 2 more HR's today, going 3-4.

Forget Johnny Bench, we got Gerry "the Jet" Laird

by ab03 on Aug 11, 2007 6:12 PM CDT 0 recs

awesome

You're just a very misguided individual, Dustin. -- Sharky

by Dustin on Aug 11, 2007 8:34 PM CDT up 0 recs

Another

You guys that went to the Frisco game tonight saw the next Ankiel.

Mike Stodolka was drafted by the Royals in the first round as a left-handed pitcher in 2000. He battled threw several arm injuries, spending six years in the minors as a pitcher.

Finally they gave up on him as a pitcher last year and he held his own in the Cal league last year as a first baseman. This year, he is putting up a .296/.407/.476 line at AA.

Ankiel is a great story and I'd like to see this kid make it too.

by badradiorules on Aug 11, 2007 10:27 PM CDT 0 recs