The Loss Column — Baltimore Sports Blog and Community

First and most important thing first: sincerest thanks to both Dan the Man and to all of you who participate with the site. Things didn’t miss a beat in my absence, and that feels great. You are in fact “the Man,” Dan.

That said, I’m back now if you’ll have me. It was nice to get away for a week and recharge a bit. I would have checked in more but the power cable for my mac snapped off on Tuesday, meaning I basically had no access. Thus the explanation for no comments, no posts, etc.

It sucks, too, because this was an exciting week. The Blue Jays canned their manager, the Mariners realized just how screwed they got in the Erik Bedard deal, and oh yeah: the Orioles kicked ten kinds of ass.

I”m not sure how these guys do it but, man, what a team. I think the attitude of the nation (the non-Baltimore nation that is) can be summed up best by the Birds’ spot at number 13 — ! — in the latest CBS Sportsline power rankings:

We really have little explanation for how long they have stuck around the .500 mark. Manager Dave Trembley has done more with less than almost any manager in baseball.

Damn right he has. But the explanation is actually pretty simple: Oriole Magic. No need to look deeper or further than that.

OK maybe it could stand a little more scrutiny, but for now I’d just like to bask in it before heading back to regular life.

The Birds will look to take the series today against the Brewers, with Garrett Andrew Olson on the hill against Manuel Alex Parra. One person who won’t be joining them, however, is Freddie Bynum. He got designated for assignment today, leaving the shortstop duties to Alex Cintron and Oscar Salazar.

On another note, I hope at least a few of you made it out to the Dew Tour to see Baltimore native Bucky Lasek take first place in the skateboard vert competition. Want to know just how cool this guy is? Check it:

“It means a lot to me to come to my hometown and to put it down the way I did and to represent Baltimore the way it deserves to be represented. I’m just proud. I’m proud of Baltimore.”

Exactly.

You might remember last June when I spent a fair amount of time covering the Panasonic Open. It didn’t get a whole lot of press, but I’d argue it was as intense and professionally contested as anything else in town last year. I enjoyed the hell out of it.

And I plan to do so again, now that I’ve learned that the Open will be returning to Charm City this summer.

The press release went out last week announcing June 19-22 as the time when hometown hero Bucky Lasek and the rest of the crew will descend once more upon the Camden Yards “sports complex” (which last year meant “parking lots”) for skateboarding, freestyle motocross, and BMX.

June seems like half a lifetime away when the temperature hovers around twenty degrees, but look for more coverage as we get close.

By now you’ve all heard, I’m guessing, about half-wit cop Salvatore Rivieri and his penchant for roughing up 14-year old skaters. If you haven’t, though, click that link to watch the YouTube video that ignited the controversy.

Now, there’s no need to get into a debate about Rivieri and what he did, whether the kid was really being disrespectful, etc. No, what I’m more interested in is the sheer humor of the whole thing.

I found it rather inspiring, so I sat down today and went to work. You can now listen to the results:

Sit Down (I’m Not a Dude) — DJ DoodRanch (mp3 link)

I realize this isn’t really sports-related, but it’s close enough.

The Ravens lost, the Red Sox won, but there is some solid Baltimore news today: hometown hero Bucky Lasek skated off with the top spot in today’s PlayStation Pro event in Orlando, Florida.

Some of you might remember the cover story I wrote for PressBox earlier this year, highlighting Lasek and the Dew Tour in general. Lasek was a two-time defending champion coming into the season, but injuries hampered him early on. That opened the door for Shaun White, who skated lights out and accumulated enough points to clinch the title in the second-to-last event.

Lasek showed up in large fashion today, though, turning in some amazing runs to clinch the event title and second place overall. And you have to love this quote:

“I’m stoked. I’m 100 percent right now,” Lasek said. “I’m skating better than I ever have and there will be no torch passing.”

Salaries and steroids and scandals make it hard sometimes to really, truly root for any of the athletes and teams we love and discuss so much. A guy like Lasek, though, makes it easy to remember why we ever cared about sports in the first place.

Respect.

Last night…ugh. I was up on the club level at the Verizon Center and a bunch of frontrunning Pink Sox yahoos were screaming things like “You’re in Boston now!! What’s up!!” For anyone with lingering doubts as to why all right-thinking Americans hate the Red Sox and their fans, there you go.

At least the Caps-Penguins matchup was fully awesome. Moving on to today’s slate:

It’s an eight-something first pitch in the deciding game of the ALCS, with Jake Westbrook taking the hill against Dice-K. When the Indians lose this one you can all go ahead and blame me. I jinxed the hell out of the Tribe when I put up that stupid post about how this Red Sox squad wasn’t a memorable one. Idiot.

The Ravens are in Buffalo with their b-squad looking to step up on the road. The Bengals host the Jets, while Pittsburgh travels out to Denver for Sunday Night Football. Down I-95 in Raljohn the Redskins host Arizona.

Should you find yourself in need of any context for that Bills-Ravens game, I present you willisistrash.com. Awesome.

And in case you need a break from football, Baltimore’s own Bucky Lasek and the rest of the world’s top skaters will wrap up the AST Dew Tour season today in Orlando. Lasek, alas, will not win his third consecutive Dew Cup — that honor has already been wrapped up by carrot top Shaun White.

It’s time to take a deep breath after that 57 comment (and counting) Orioles thread and turn our focus outward for a change. Specifically, to some of the other sites on the webonet that have shown The Loss Column love over the past few months, or for whom we just have a particular fondness.

– Sports by Brooks is one of the best daily sources out there for news, links, analysis, etc. I read the site anyway, but as it happens Brooks has been very kind to us with links of his own. Support him.

– Babes Love Baseball gave us a shout-out not too long ago and I felt humbled. They’re babes, they love baseball, and they know what they’re talking about. What’s not to love?

– Uni Watch, of course. One of my favorites since pretty much the day it went up.

– What Would Tyler Hansbrough Do? linked us up, as well. It’s a Tar Heels blog and that’s kind of a problem, but I figure a mutual hatred of all things Duke can be the tie that binds.

And since there’s more to life than sports, and it’s my prerogative to link as I please, give these sites a look as well:

– The guys at Tomorrow’s Brightest Minds are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with. Those Slim Jim “Snapalope” commercials? That’s them. The site hasn’t been updated in awhile but don’t let that scare you off. I’m privileged to call these dudes friends.

– The Girl Skateboards Art Dump houses a collection of some of the most inspiring, creative individuals alive today. Bookmark it and be happy you did.

And finally, don’t forget to periodically stop by our fellow “Behind Enemy Lines” alliance sites.

Enjoy your Wednesday.

It’s hard to imagine a worse time for me to take a week away. The Cal Ripken induction, the trade deadline, the constantly developing Michael Vick and Tim Donaghy stories, NFL training camps opening up, a weekend series against the hated-but-surging Yankees…the next seven days could very well be news-rich. That, and I’m going to be out of town for my lovely girlfriend’s birthday on Thursday, and that just sucks.

But, duty calls. It’s not exactly a pleasure trip even though I do plan to make the most of it. I’ll almost certainly chime in at least once or twice while I’m gone.

By the by: hometown boy Bucky Lasek came in second in the skateboard vert comp at the Right Guard Open in Cleveland over the weekend. He looked poised to take the top spot until Shaun White turned in a ridiculous run on his last try. I’ll keep you all posted on the Dew Tour as it rolls along. Bucky’s still in position to take the Cup, but it looks like White will have to stumble in a big way for that to happen. Should be fun to watch.

Dan the Man is your leader from here to next Wednesday. Treat him well, leave a lot of comments, and I’ll see you when I see you. Thanks as always for reading.

Bedard gave up an early homer, and Joe Angel just said “if Bedard is somehow able to win this game tonight…” Too good.

I did a google image search for “Mark Burly” because I thought it would be funny to find a picture of a burly dude named Mark to put up with this post. Instead I found something altogether cooler, a site called Florida Skater, an “old school skateboard community”. Lots of interesting stuff there, including some righteous photos (including the one to the left there).

Also, please take note of the post below for some important news about the Take Back the Yard rally.