Eric

Leave it to Mota to name-check Elf as his favorite Farrell movie. At least it wasn't Night At The Roxbury, I guess.

Said as he was hobbling into the locker room like Albert Pujols circa 2013 to suit up to play for only his 3rd team of the day.

Derp... was posting in the wrong thread. If today's game is any indication, Joe Maddon certainly has his work cut out for him in Chi-town.

If I can get assurances from at least 3 other people who would be willing to participate via Skype on a weekly basis on Sunday afternoon, have decent mics and decent mic skills, and can lock in advertising revenue to make it worth our while, I would be willing to run a month of Angels podcast tester shows to see how it goes and if it's worth everyone's while.

While it may not be "best Christmas gift ever", what I got this year ranks right up there, especially for someone living out of state who couldn't attend a single game all season long. I was given a big ass box. When I opened it it was filled with every single Angels Stadium giveaway from the 2014 year. Yes, I know a bunch of them were crap, but the idea that my parents (who have season tickets) took the time to save every giveaway all season long and give it as a gift was pure awesomeness. My Halo shelves (which are already filled with years of Angels Stadium giveaways dating back to the early 80's) just added an entire wing onto the setup.

As a player, Howie frustrated me at the plate in clutch situations, but made me happy when he led off an inning. He was a table setter. He got the ball rolling. In the field, he was about as solid a player as they come. As a person, Howie has always been a class act, and those words are just further proof. I'm sure the #Angelswin hashtag was no accident and was a shout out.

The top of the list is Eckstein. Not only was he just kicked to the curb, they passive aggressively pissed on him and told him it was raining when they replaced him with Cabrera (who was almost stat for stat the same as Eck) for a ton of money more. He was always dismissed as "over-achieving" for (insert adjective denigrating him here). In the end, no one ever really gave David the credit he truly deserved. Bottom line, if Eck isn't on the 2002 Angels, they never make the playoffs, let alone win the Series. While you could say that about each of the players on the 25 man roster, and all of the coaches, it was truly Eck and Erstad that set the tone of the work ethic of the club that year. The Angels have never been the same since he left. 2002 was a "working class" team who got it done. The Angels have become a Prima-Donna clubhouse with bloated contracts. Sure, the 2001-4 team players were still making tons of money themselves compared to their fans, but you never got the sense that they took any of that for granted. If anyone slacked off, the rest of the team kicked them in the ass to pick it up. Now, when someone slacks off or seems lackadaisical, meh, they'll eventually turn it around, there's no need to pressure them. Sorry for the vent, but you asked!

Just finally got home. Great to meet you all!

Lookie what I found on the interwebitubes! http://youtu.be/i_qeQkV2KIU?t=53m17s

There are about 3 places that could have happened, the Stratosphere where they are hosting the HPT, the Planet Hollywood where they are hosting the World Series of Poker Circuit event, and the Excalibur, where nothing was happening, but Jose has been known to show up because the poker ability there is bad enough for him to have a shot at actually cashing. PS - I love how his GF lists herself as a "Pro Poker Player". I know pretty much every "pro poker player" in the world at this point, and certainly almost every "pro poker player" in Las Vegas. I've never heard of her. Admittedly she's rather attractive, so I should have at least a couple of pics of her from a tournament (hot women playing poker bring hits to my site), and I don't have a single one. Yet another example of someone claiming a profession that is really just a hobby or, more to the point, a way to pass the time. Just because someone plays in a poker tournament does not make them a "professional Poker Player" by a long shot. It's like saying that because you bowled in a tournament one time that now you're a pro bowler. Just sayin'.

Nice. I will try to swing by while I'm out there, but I probably won't get the chance to play since I need to be back in Vegas in the AM. But who knows?

http://crmbl.co/1sB2lgA http://crmbl.co/1xr1hjC

I will be the first to admit, maybe it's me being a bit emotionally raw on this one, but there were two distinct threads about Mike that were merged into one that I think is a bit inappropriate. The first was about Mike and the announcement that he was in the hospital and then the conversation that ensued subsequent to that. The other was the announcement by my good friend HALOMVP about Mike's passing. While they may have been superficially all about PercySquint, they were fundimentally about two different things, one being his hospitalization and the other... well, the other one. Please, I would ask, if there were a time to lay off the over modding, this would be one. Forcing the announcement by HALOMVP onto the 6th page, or some random page, seems at best disrespectful and at worst, like simply a case of someone who couldn't give a **** trying to over moderate something that doesn't need to be over moderated. Again, it may be that I am too close to the situation for perspective, but it feels insanely insensitive to force those two into the same thread, thereby somehow diminishing the announcement of Mike's passing. Moderators, please think about the potential impact of the fundamental message before you combine threads willy nilly. It's insulting in this case, in the extreme.

Mike, myself, and HALOMVP (Jimmy) at a Spring Training game a couple of years ago.

Today has been a struggle for me. It's hard to believe that I will no longer be able to pick up the phone and call Mike. He was a good friend, and anyone that knows me knows, those words don't come lightly. Thank you all for the kind words about Mike. I'm just thankful that he was able to get many kind words and support from this place before he passed so that he knew as he ventured into the great unknown how truly loved and appreciated he was. To say that he will be missed would be a great understatement of Epic proportion. I was there the first time he was introduced to Angelswin.com in spring training years ago by a couple that sat next to us at the game. Who knew at the time that it would turn out to be a pivitol moment in his life as he found a group of people with just as much passion for the Angels as he had. Thank you, Angelswin, for bringing joy into the life of a man that I am proud to be able to call a true friend. Thank you.

Tonight's Steak and A Classic Movie night features one of Mike's favorite films of all time, the original Roger Corman Death Race 2000.

For those of you who knew Mike and understood what challenges he had endured with battling lung cancer, unfortunately his struggle ended last night at 9:30PM. I do not know anything more than this, I'm sure that his family or friends can fill in the details in the future.

Charles Krauthammer gloated last night that the new makeup of Congress means that the Republicans "should pass a bill a week." That's 52 a year or 104 in this next Congressional term. Only problem is, the current Congressional Session, statistically proven to have been the single worst Congress at passing bills in the history of the US, already has that number beat at 185 (or just over 3 bills every 2 weeks). In other words, it's only going to get worse, regardless of which side of the aisle you identify with.

I will chill out... as soon as I don't have to endure any more of Gubi's bullshit "when I was a Royal" stories or any other utterances by him at all on an Angels broadcast ever again. Other than that, yeah, I completely agree.

2 Games. 2 ****ing Games Gubi pitched for the Angels. **** him and his whole "When I pitched for the Royals" schtick he pulls every game, usually even before the 3rd inning has started. Give him back or let him go entirely, he doesn't give a **** about the Angels, never has, never will. His loyalties have always been and always will be as an unsuccessful and loser Royal.

Last I checked, David Eckstein wasn't actively getting checks from the Angels or as their representative in any capacity at that point.

That's it. Gubi needs to go. If that's not showing where his loyalty is, nothing will.

Try this one. http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/images/691464main_ED12-0317-047_full.jpg Because it is NASA, I believe it is open source, but don't quote me. I could be wrong.