The MLB Extra Innings Package offers up to 35 regular season, out-of-market games a week. Due to my lack of a spare $159 laying around, as well as my mom and dad's apparent but puzzling lack of interest in receiving those "extra innings" to our home each week, I am unable to follow certain big games (such as last week's Curt Schilling/Pedro Martinez matchup) or more importantly, my fantasy players on live TV. Instead, I am relegated to technology's next best deal, semi-live java applets or Flash programs such as ESPN's GameCast, CBS Sportsline's GameCenter, or MLB.com's GameDay.

These little pieces of heaven offer all some simple graphics representing games at hand, namely a picture of a baseball field and the names of players who occupy each base/position. Refreshing itself frequently, I receive text-based updates of the latest plays thanks to my trusty cable-modem internet connection. All three of the sources I mentioned above are pretty solid, but there are of course limitations, just like watching the game on TV is not nearly as great as being there in person. When GameCast tells me Barry Bonds reached on an infield single, or Jason Giambi was caught stealing 3rd, I can't help but be puzzled as to how a guy with hamstring issues and has at times been unable to reach 2nd base on a hit off the wall somehow got an infield hit, or what in the world a slow man like Giambi was doing trying to steal 3rd in the first place. If i had been watching on TV, at least I would be able to see that the infield hit was a high chopper that was a little misplayed, and that Giambi was thrown out in a botched hit-and-run play.

Anyways, what I was originally gonna write about was that someday I envision living with, or near a few of my fellow baseball lovers with maybe 40 bucks of disposable income to chip in to get that deal. Kind of like the Tyson-Lewis fight, when maybe 15 people or so showed up and put in some contributions and everyone got what they wanted. But that Extra Innings thing does sound pretty sweet.

On a side note, Chip Caray has to be the worst baseball announcer ever. I guess if you don't pay attention to what he says, or watch Cubs games that much, he doesn't seem all that bad. But honestly, every time I watch a game with him announcing, I feel like throwing oranges at the tv set, or at least writing a long-winded hate letter to WGN bashing his ineptitude. First of all, he's calling the game on TV, so he doesn't have to always be talking. Shut up once in a while and just let the viewers watch. Also, stop using words like "scalded" or "out by an eyelash" so much. And if he says "swung on, belted!" one more time I will likely flip.

The worst is how none of what he says makes sense when you think about it. Bases loaded, the batter hits a line drive that's caught, and Chip says "liner, caught! everybody's safe!" No, not everybody is safe, because the batter is out, you idiot. "Everybody's safe" is what you say when the batter reaches on an error, or a good bunt, or a fielders choice that failed to get the runner. Or today, after the 6th inning, he feels compelled to say "Jason Bere - pitching a gem!" when the guy has given up 4 runs on 6 hits and walked 3 through six. Just cause he retired the side in order and struck out Adam Everett to end the inning does not make it a "gem." A gem is giving up no hits, or maybe 2 or 3 at most, and no runs (or maybe a solo homer even). Jason Bere's stats weren't even technically classified a "quality start" (6+ innings, 3 or fewer ER). Another irritating thing was when Todd Hundley was picked off 1st base to end the inning, and he starts telling the Greek myth of Sisyphus and how he pushed a rock to the top of a hill, and then had to push it back or some crap. um, right... Why, Chip, why? can't you just say, Everett, Hernandez, and Vizcaino coming up in the bottom half?

i'm pretty puzzled by the fact that my dad likes to watch Fear Factor... i can't stand watching it sometimes but i guess I can understand the simple appeal. just that my dad was the one who used to always get on me about watching too much sports, how it was a waste of time and I should be studying or doing something more productive. to be fair, it was probably a good thing back then that he made me work, and now he doesn't really care as much about it.

still, fear factor?? have you ever seen that show? i've been so fortunate enough to catch all of about one and a half episodes of pure unadulterated family fun. thank goodness that I did not miss such quality stuff like the skee ball/pig uterus eating event, or having bugs crawl over you while picking out colored snakes and sticking them in a bucket for points. and these contestants are all either dumb as rocks or just plain annoying (or both)... where do they find these people? not to mention the host... was he on some sitcom before, i think as a dumb repairman type guy on Newsradio maybe? he tries too hard. that guy almost makes Jeff Probst on Survivor seem cool.

by the way, is it a rule on TV that the host of any major show has to irritate me? especially the male hosts, that is... how many non-young-teenage-girls actually like Carson Daly? What about non-middle-age-women who think Regis is "the man"? AJ from BET's 106&Park is pretty flaming too, and I already mentioned Jeff Probst.

One guy who i actually like is Alex Trebek (in a purely platonic heterosexual way, of course). you may think i am joking but that guy has been around so long his style must have grown on me. he's way too intelligent for any of us and pretty downright nerdy at times, but can you imagine anybody else hosting Jeopardy? maybe it's just me, but i like how his jokes aren't really funny at all but he thinks they are, and everyone kind of just figures he's a dork (hey, that reminds me of myself). and he doesn't try to mack on all the female contestants, probably cause he's got no game anyways. the way i see it, how can you NOT like alex trebek? after all, he's just a harmless old smart guy.

oh yeah, one other thing that i think is hilarious is how my grandma loves Wheel of Fortune. she doesn't speak more than 3 words of English, yet she never misses a show and she goes crazy when they hit the $5000 or a prize. It doesn't make a difference that she will never be able to guess the words herself at home in a million years. Maybe she thinks Pat Sajak is hot (haha just kidding... ewwww). Isn't Wheel of Fortune one of the longest-running game shows in this country? besides The Price is Right, I think. What does that say about what kind of shows really appeal to the general public... it's not really how clever the game is, but how well it's all packaged. it's gotta be all about the shiny wheel and flashy prizes, the studio crowd providing excitement, and watching contestants jump up and down winning some money that they will end up blowing in a week anyways and half of which will probably go to taxes right off the bat.

come to think of it, most of the popular shows in Taiwan (besides soap operas, which run in primetime there actually) are basically game shows which are designe usually to humiliate contestants, mostly "celebrities," otherwise known as just the latest pop singers who have one song that is played on a 5 song playlist on the radio or MTV asia. and the hosts there are all pretty annoying too. well, it's really only one or two hosts that are on every night in a differently themed show on one of the three channels of public TV. thank goodness for cable hookup and ESPN when I was there.

just to clarify, I do not watch TV 24 hours a day. i used to watch a couple shows regularly (like Simpsons or Friends) but now it's usually just surfing around the channels a few times a day when i get a chance to sit down. and now pretty much the only thing I like watching a lot on TV is baseball. and maybe conan o'brien too.

it's been awhile since little old joe has felt so exhausted. after an afternoon of softball, my knees were about to give and all i wanted to do was lie down for the rest of the day. i have to admit i was a little surprised at how beat i was feeling. it's only been a few weeks since school when i was in probably the best shape of my life... and i haven't exactly been sitting around this whole time doing nothing. maybe i am getting old, wouldn't that be sad.

it didn't help at all watching the tyson-lewis fight later on either. boxers are all pretty crazy and even though they don't seem too smart, their bodies gotta be so incredibly conditioned, probably more than i can imagine. even though tyson got owned, it was still pretty impressive how many punches he took and that he was still standing after then 8th round. i mean, some of those replays were just plain brutal, he got jacked so hard i'm surprised his brain isn't complete mush by now. actually, it probably has been mush for a while now. so that's what a person turns into when he takes one too many punches, biting ears, talking about eating kids and stomping on their testicles... remind me not to fight lennox lewis ever

watching boxing got me to wondering, how would someone like bruce lee do against a boxer. bruce lee never loses a fight. i'm sure he could dodge pretty much any jab easily or block and counter with some pretty mean 1-inch punches of his own. too bad he died though, what a bummer eh...

went to the sox game... the first i've been to this season but hopefully not the last. it was just me and olivia this time, and we got pretty good seats, not up front but on the lower deck between home and first base. Here is the recap if you wanna know what happened in the game... i was gonna throw a fit when they screwed up in the 9th, but decided to play it cool so my girlfriend didn't think i was a fool.

even though they lost like that though, it was a good time. it was "carribbean night" or something, so they had a little theme going and people dressed up in shark suits. haha shark suits are awesome. the cool thing was the first 10,000 fans over 21 got a free White Sox beach towel courtesy of Jose Cuervo. the uncool thing was when olivia walked in ahead of me and they handed her a towel, then i went in and the guy just looked at me. I asked him if i could take one, and he was like "are you 21?" so I was like what the crap you know? i'm 22 man... plus it's just a frickin towel! meanwhile olivia is laughing her head off... nothing like some good old mockery to make my night complete

there were postgame fireworks which were actually good too. fireworks at Comiskey Park are very underrated and watching them is a really nice show.

there is no point to my story. i don't really wanna make this blog just a diary or something like that, but in the interest of keeping it updated, a lot of entries will probably be just randomness (with a little cleverness sprinkled in, don't worry).

so my sister's taking summer school session II, and I drove her down to Champaign yesterday, having to run a couple errands there anyways. when I moved out only a few weeks ago, i had already experienced some of the weirdest and saddest feelings, knowing that a chapter had closed in my life. In the past four years i had experienced many of the best times i can imagine while growing in so many ways... and so quickly, graduation arrived and it was all over in a flash. looking back into an empty apartment for one last time, i couldn't help but feel choked up thinking about the endless memories left in that place. the sappy part of me that rarely sees light of day suddenly seemed to overwhelm my mind, and for some reason, I could only think of sad songs like "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye to Yesterday" by Boyz II Men or "I Will Remember You" by Sarah McLachlan.

Of course, eventually I got over all those feelings. Actually, it didn't take long once I got home and was thrown back into life back in Darien, with my old room and my momma and poppa. not that all was forgotten from my times at U of I... just that home life basically came by like a 7'2" 350 pound Shaq and shook the sentimental crap out of me.

then, i made my triumphant return to my old stomping grounds for a day. had to pick up some mail, stop by Engineering Hall, do some random errands. i thought it would just be simple as that, but as soon as I exited Neil from I-74 another huge wave of weirdness swept over me. I honestly don't know what it was or how to describe it. Maybe it was just the fact that I had taken that road a million times before without ever thinking twice, I had passed those ugly houses on the side of Springfield Ave. on the way from my apt to Meijer or Best Buy or Chilis on Prospect... and now i was perhaps taking my last drive through ghetto old Champaign so I should treasure it. same with everything else, I must have walked through Everitt to get to Eng Hall hundreds of times before, logged into EWS machines thousands of times, walked down Healey to get my car a few times a day, stopped by the Union or chilled on the Quad for whatever reason. And once I finished my list of things to do late in the afternoon, it almost felt like I was done with classes for the day and I should call up some friends to go hang out or do something, but probably nobody was even in town. Not only that, but going through my phone number list on my phone, it was such a depressing thought that half those numbers were now out of service. I was almost even physically drawn towards Grainger, thinking I must have something to study, before realizing that those days were behind me.

Now you'd think a sensible, logic-minded person such as myself should be able to take a step back, and see how silly all of this was. Do I really miss school? The campus was never all that great... after just about every ECE test i cursed the department and told myself I just wanted to graduate... i don't even know how much money the punks at campus parking sucked out of me. But there's no denying that a part of me wishes I could go back to all that, if only to experience another day as a college student. and in the same way I know it can't ever happen like that.

It was my time to go, and no matter how fondly I look back at the memories, there's no sense in fighting the winds of change. Life moves fast, usually faster than I would like it to. But all I can say is, live with no regrets... If you're an entering freshman, figure out what it is that you want out of college and go for it. If it's a 4.0 GPA, then so be it. If it's to meet as many people as you can, fine. But don't look back 4 years from now and say, "I wish I had studied more" or "Why was I such a bookworm" because by then it will be too late. For me, I know if I had studied a little more, maybe I would have had better grades. But honestly, how much is it gonna matter if you don't learn as much about Electromagnetics, if you were able to make valuable relationships that you can take with you beyond life in school. Not that you would never use book learning, but I learned the most from other people. I also learn the most from my own mistakes. (hmmm... maybe i need a lesson in English, or in logic. how can I learn the most from more than one thing?)

Anyways... all this ended up being a lot more sappy than I intended. I promise not all my writings will be like this.