Nefertiti Belongs in Egypt

Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, is threatening a scientific war if Germany does not lend to Egypt a bust of Nefertiti for the opening of a museum in 2012.

Nefertiti belongs in Egypt. German museums are using Egyptian cultural heritage to make money for Germans. The British are doing the same with the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum.

Having these icons of Egyptian culture in London and Berlin is like having the Liberty Bell in Moscow. These items are part of Egyptian identity the way the Statue of Liberty is part of our American identity. These artifacts belong with their people.

Lester to AAA

Per this report, John Lester will be making one more start for Greenville then heading to AAA for a start on the 25th in Rochester.

That's progress and progress is good.

Book Review: One of A Kind

One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, the World's Greatest Poker Player, was supposed to be Ungar's tell all autobiography but Ungar died before it could be published.

As is, it is a well written, frank, and engaging biography of one of poker's legends. This reader, at least, was left with the impression that Ungar was a heinous rat bastard that one wouldn't want to know.

It's not the drugs. Everyone has their weaknesses. It's the way he doesn't seem to ever take responsibility for anything.

To be sure, he didn't have the greatest upringing. His father was a bookie but the book mentions how proud Ungar's father was that he could provide for a family. The younger Ungar seems not to have learned that lesson. Ungar's father died when Ungar was still young, and his mother seemed incapable of coping and quickly fell into a drug addled stupor that lasted for years.

By the time Ungar's mother had to be put in a nursing home, however, Ungar was old enough to take a little responsibility. The book stells a story of how he was notified that he had ot have his mother's apartment cleared out or the landlord was going to sell the contents at auction to pay for back rent. Ungar spent the night playing cards and all of the furniture, rugs, pictures, and family heirlooms were carted off and either sold or destroyed.

There's another story about a time when Ungar felt the need to lay some blackjack at some second rate casino. He got comped a room for himself and his girlfriend and was down in the pit gambling more on one hand than the entire rest of the casino. After two days he told the manager to comp him another room that wasn't near the first and there he went to bang away at some hookers while his girlfriend slept.

They estimate that Ungar won about thirty million dollars in hist lifetime but they had to pass a hat to pay for his funeral.

He was a degenerate gambler in the worst possible sense of the word. That makes for a really bad man, but a fascinating read.

Image of the Week

This week's image is Jackie Robinson's Hall of Fame plaque.

Baseball is honoring his memory today on the 60th anniversary of his first game and this very fitting and proper. I won't go into it much other than to say that it's nice to be reminded that we can become better people.

4/8/07 Sox 3 Rangers 2

A few assorted comments on the game:

• Schilling looked so much better it's not funny. If you were worried about him after his opening day start, you don't need to be. He is 40 and on the downside of his career but he's still got a little left in the tank.
• Alex Cora. ALEX Cora. Joey Cora don't play no more. If you're going to announce games for a living, the least you can do is know who's playing.
• Alex Cora sac bunts in the fifth with the Sox up two. WTF? Alex Cora is one of the most headsup ballplayers you'll see but bunting when you're ahead in the fifth is dumb. Additionally, he has his foot out of the batters box when he made contact which could have caused him to be called out. Then he ran inside the baseline which could have caused him to be called out and the baserunner returned to first. Alex, I like ya, I really do, but you fucked that up royally.
• Piniero--throw strikes.
• The usage of Papelbon was excellent. The game was in need of saving so you use your best reliever to save it. It's a lot easier to pitch a scoreless inning from scratch than to keep a runner from scoring from third with only one out. I don't always agree with Francona's bullpen usage but that decision was spot on.

Now back home for the opener at 3-3.

Lets check on the Yankees

Since today's Sox game was an abomination, lets check in with the Yankers shall we?

Coming into the season the Sox bullpen was their question mark and the Yanks rotation was their question mark. How're they doin'?

Game 1: Pavano goes 4.1 allowing four earned runs.
Game 2: Pettitte goes 4 allowing two earned runs.
Game 3: Mussina goes 4 allowing six earned runs.

Twelve and a third innings pitched, twelve runs allowed. Hooha. Meanwhile, Boston's bullpen has pitched ten innings and allowed two runs.

It's still early and all that but it's nice to see them suck.

Provisionally Pleased with Beckett's Outing

It's the sixth inning so I can't really comment on the entire game but Beckett's outing is over and it was pretty good...mostly.

He couldn't throw the curve consistently for strikes and that's a problem which led to four walks which is a problem and 90+ pitches in five innings which is a problem.

But other than that he kept throwing it and wasn't throwing meatballs and managed to allow just one run on two hits including an inning where he bailed out Mike Lowell. NESN put up a graphic after 19 batters pointing out that the first time through the order everyone got a first pitch fastball but seven of the next ten got something else. That's a good sign.

Of course, scoring some freakin' runs would be nice.

Opening Day Sucked

And that's pretty much all that needs to be said about that.