With opening day (in America) less then 24 hours away, I decided that it's about time I make some Major League Baseball Predictions for the year. The reason I like to predict the winners of each division and the playoffs before the year starts is so I can look back in October and realize that I know absolutely nothing.
2008 should be a great year for the MLB, with lots of parody in every division. From teams who've made great moves in the off season (Detroit Tigers), to teams who've practically changed nothing (Boston Red Sox). From questionable pitching staffs (New York Yankees), to pitchers coming home (Tom Glavine to Atlanta), 2008 is going to be a crazy year.
Now some of my predictions may seem a little far fetched in some areas, and pretty obvious in others. The reason I like to make bold predictions is because if they come true, I look like I know a thing or two more than the professionals, but if they fail miserably, I can always just say I took the long shot and didn't expect it to actually happen.
Before we get into the winners of each division and of coarse the World Series, I'd like to make some slightly bold predictions that you may or may not agree with.
1.Hunter Pence will hit 35 home runs and steal 35 bases
2.Manny Ramirez will hit over 50 home runs
3.Rick Ankiel will hit over 40 home runs (others have predicted this as well)
4.Erik Bedard will win the AL Cy Young Award in a landslide.
5.The Washington Nationals will lose over 100 games. (Tampa Bay 96 losses most last year)
6.Kerry Wood will have over 40 saves.
7. Dice-K will have over a 4.30 ERA for the second straight year.
8.Miguel Cabrera will be top 3 in all Triple Crown categories, winning 2 of them.
9.Randy Johnson will win at least 15 games.
10.Albert Pujols will hit less than 25 home runs and bat under .300
AL MVP=Miguel Cabrera
NL MVP=Matt Holiday
OK, lets move on to how each division will turn out.
AL East
Winner: Boston Red Sox
2nd Place: Toronto Blue Jays
Surprises: Orioles will finish last, even behind the Rays
AL Central
Winner: Cleveland Indians
2nd Place: Detroit Tigers
Surprises: Detroit will not win the division
AL West
Winner: Seattle Mariners
2nd Place: Oakland Athletics
Surprises: The Angles will not finish top 2
NL East
Winner: Atlanta Braves
2nd Place: New York Mets
Surprises: Florida Marlins will finish 3rd over the Phillies, and Nationals lose over 100
NL Central
Winner: Milwaukee Brewers
2nd Place: Chicago Cubs
Surprises: No one will care or follow the NL Central (not much of a surprise)
NL West
Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
2nd Place: Colorado Rockies
Surprises: The top 4 teams will be separated by less than 2 games at the end of the year. San Fransisco will be very far behind.
AL Wild Card
I want to say the Blue Jays, but playing in the AL East is just too tough for them to come out with a good enough record, so I'll pick the Detroit Tigers.
NL Wild Card
Colorado Rockies for the 2nd straight year.
World Series Match Up
Cleveland Indians vs. Atlanta Braves
World Series Winner
Atlanta Braves
Now I completely understand that some of my predictions may seem far fetched to some of you but sometimes I like to go against the grain. Whats the fun in picking the Tigers or the Red Sox as the favorite to win teh world series when everyone else does. Wheres the fun in having another Red Sox Yankees 1, 2 finish in the AL East or just picking what all the so called "experts" pick. So hopefully you can look at these predictions and not think I'm too crazy, and actually give me a little credit if some of them do come true. And if not one comes true I hope you can look at this and say, well at least he tried.
I am going to try and get some of my friends on camera to make their predictions for the world series and a couple surprises and if I manage to do that it should be up in the next few days. In the mean time enjoy ripping all my picks apart.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Spring Break: Disney World
So it's Easter morning and I am fresh off my spring break trip to Disney World where the weather was perfect, about 80-85 degrees every day, and without a cloud in the sky. We left last Saturday morning at 6:55am from Bradley International Airport, and arrived in beautiful Orlando at 9:40am. For those of you who have never been to Disney World, you would be in for a surprise at the service, beginning in the airport. We did not have to go to baggage claim and pick up our bags as Disney workers do that for you, and deliver them straight to your hotel room, within 3 hours of landing. Also, Disney Magical Express, provides free transportation from Orlando Airport to your Disney Hotel.
The drive from the Airport to the hotel took about 30 minutes but was shortened by the bus drivers interesting facts of Florida and Disney. We arrived at the Boardwalk Hotel around 10:30am and were immediately waited on, even though we knew our room would not be ready until 4pm. One interesting thing about Disney World is that every single employee wears a name tag that sports their name and their hometown. The lady who waited on us just happened to be from Massachusetts, not to far away from Laurie, and not to far away from CT where the rest of us are from. I guess it really is a "small world after all".
Since our hotel wasn't going to be ready until 4pm, and we were already dressed for Florida, (Except for the two girls, Laurie and Courtney, because they refused to wear shorts or skirts on the plane, even though we told them our room wouldn't be ready) we decided to walk to EPCOT. One of the best things about the Boardwalk, besides the unbelievable rooms, is that you are a 5 minute walk from EPCOT and a 10-15 minute walk to Hollywood Studios (formally MGM Studios).
We accomplished so much in the time we had. We visited EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Downtown Disney, and of course The Magic Kingdom. We also managed to spend some time by the pool, soaking up the sun and becoming friends with the hotel pool bartender. We did everything from It's a Small World, to the Tower of Terror and Rock'n Roller Coaster. We saw new shows such as Lights, Motor, Action! which was unbelievable. We saw the EPCOT illuminations fireworks and laser show, Hollywood Studios Fantasmic show, and The Magic Kingdoms Light Parade and Wish Upon a star firework show.
We were on the Disney meal plan which you pay for before you visit, and actually will save you a lot of money. The restaurants we ate at during the week were the 50's Cafe (Hollywood Studios), Concourse Steak House (Contemporary Hotel), a Character Breakfast (Grand Floridian Hotel), Wolfgang Puck (Downtown Disney), Tutto Italia (EPCOT), and Planet Hollywood (Downtown Disney).
The trip lasted from Saturday March 15th until Friday March 21st, but felt so much shorter. I think we can all agree that our feet hurt real bad, we had a great time, we wanted to stay longer, and we wanted to come home and sleep.
Some things we didn't get to do that we would have loved to if we had another day or two would be to visit some of the water parks, go see a Braves Spring Training game, lay by the pool for longer periods of time, go to the bars and clubs in downtown Disney more than one night, and see the Cirque du Soleil.
This Spring Break was one of the best Spring Breaks I have ever had. I don't think it would have been possible to do more, or have more fun in the allotted time. One thing I did while in Disney was bring my Flip Video Ultra, as I took 40min worth of videos from the car show, some of the rides, firework shows, and just other random Disney moments. I can't wait to edit these videos edited and online so everyone can see. Right now I am at home and having some trouble getting my windows movie maker to work, and my flip video movie mixer. I am able to open both programs but they both immediately close on me after about 10sec. This problem is probably caused solely by my computer but I will post some unedited videos today or tomorrow, before I get back to school and use final cut pro to put together a nice little 2-3 minute clip of all of my videos.
Everyone should enjoy the feeling of walking around the corner of main street in the Magic Kingdom, and seeing Cinderellas Castle for the first time. No other place on earth will make you feel more like a little kid, joyful 24 hours a day, than Walt Disney World. It is the most magical place on earth.
The drive from the Airport to the hotel took about 30 minutes but was shortened by the bus drivers interesting facts of Florida and Disney. We arrived at the Boardwalk Hotel around 10:30am and were immediately waited on, even though we knew our room would not be ready until 4pm. One interesting thing about Disney World is that every single employee wears a name tag that sports their name and their hometown. The lady who waited on us just happened to be from Massachusetts, not to far away from Laurie, and not to far away from CT where the rest of us are from. I guess it really is a "small world after all".
Since our hotel wasn't going to be ready until 4pm, and we were already dressed for Florida, (Except for the two girls, Laurie and Courtney, because they refused to wear shorts or skirts on the plane, even though we told them our room wouldn't be ready) we decided to walk to EPCOT. One of the best things about the Boardwalk, besides the unbelievable rooms, is that you are a 5 minute walk from EPCOT and a 10-15 minute walk to Hollywood Studios (formally MGM Studios).
We accomplished so much in the time we had. We visited EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Downtown Disney, and of course The Magic Kingdom. We also managed to spend some time by the pool, soaking up the sun and becoming friends with the hotel pool bartender. We did everything from It's a Small World, to the Tower of Terror and Rock'n Roller Coaster. We saw new shows such as Lights, Motor, Action! which was unbelievable. We saw the EPCOT illuminations fireworks and laser show, Hollywood Studios Fantasmic show, and The Magic Kingdoms Light Parade and Wish Upon a star firework show.
We were on the Disney meal plan which you pay for before you visit, and actually will save you a lot of money. The restaurants we ate at during the week were the 50's Cafe (Hollywood Studios), Concourse Steak House (Contemporary Hotel), a Character Breakfast (Grand Floridian Hotel), Wolfgang Puck (Downtown Disney), Tutto Italia (EPCOT), and Planet Hollywood (Downtown Disney).
The trip lasted from Saturday March 15th until Friday March 21st, but felt so much shorter. I think we can all agree that our feet hurt real bad, we had a great time, we wanted to stay longer, and we wanted to come home and sleep.
Some things we didn't get to do that we would have loved to if we had another day or two would be to visit some of the water parks, go see a Braves Spring Training game, lay by the pool for longer periods of time, go to the bars and clubs in downtown Disney more than one night, and see the Cirque du Soleil.
This Spring Break was one of the best Spring Breaks I have ever had. I don't think it would have been possible to do more, or have more fun in the allotted time. One thing I did while in Disney was bring my Flip Video Ultra, as I took 40min worth of videos from the car show, some of the rides, firework shows, and just other random Disney moments. I can't wait to edit these videos edited and online so everyone can see. Right now I am at home and having some trouble getting my windows movie maker to work, and my flip video movie mixer. I am able to open both programs but they both immediately close on me after about 10sec. This problem is probably caused solely by my computer but I will post some unedited videos today or tomorrow, before I get back to school and use final cut pro to put together a nice little 2-3 minute clip of all of my videos.
Everyone should enjoy the feeling of walking around the corner of main street in the Magic Kingdom, and seeing Cinderellas Castle for the first time. No other place on earth will make you feel more like a little kid, joyful 24 hours a day, than Walt Disney World. It is the most magical place on earth.
Monday, March 3, 2008
RWU Head Baseball Coach Derek Carlson Interview
Our next assignment was to interview a faculty, staff, or any employee of Roger Williams University, and to do it a lot better than the last interview we posted. Below is the final video of head baseball coach at Roger Williams University, Derek Carlson, followed by the long story of how long it took to make this video happen. I'd first just like to thank Coach Carlson for taking the time to participate. Enjoy.
Let me first start by saying that this assignment took much longer than it ever should have. The first step was finding someone to interview, that was the easy part. I chose Derek Carlson, the head baseball coach here at Roger Williams University. I played baseball for Coach Carlson as a Freshman and I have been doing work study for him ever since. I chose him because I felt comfortable talking with him and knew he would go out of his way to let me do this project. The tough part was having to deal with him giving me a hard time about video taping it and putting it online, although I knew he would ultimately come through for me. We scheduled an interview for Wednesday afternoon, and this is where the difficulties began.
After setting up a time to interview him and film some of his teams practice, we received an e-mail from professor Scully asking us to not do the interviews before Thursdays class because he wanted to go over some interviewing skills, since our last batch of videos turned out to be nothing but amateur first time garbage. I had to tell Carlson that we would have to reschedule. Then, Wednesday afternoon I saw Carlson at 3:30 about 30 min after our previously scheduled interview, where he gave me a hard time and said he never got my e-mail about canceling and asked why I never showed up. After feeling bad and expecting him not to do the interview anymore, he admitted he was joking and just likes to give me a hard time. Thanks Coach.
In Thursdays class, Professor Scully gave us some great tips on conducting an interview, but said we now how to have our interviews due on Tuesday. Little did we all know that there would be a huge snow storm on Friday, canceling classes and causing students and teachers alike, to fled campus early. Not knowing if practices were canceled for the weekend I e-mailed Carlson to do the interview on Monday, and to my surprise, he does not come in on Mondays. This put me in a tough predicament because I now had no way of getting an interview done by Tuesday. Then, Scully came to the rescue yet again. Realizing everyone would have problems with the snow day and the weekend, he pushed the due date back until Thursday. He says it was for us, but I think it was because he wanted a reason not to have class on Tuesday. (He claims he had the flu, I don't by it)
Finally, I got to do the interview with Carlson on Wednesday. When I showed up to his office, he was so impressed with the Flip Video Ultra Camera, that he spent the first 15-20 minutes talking about it, asking questions, and wondering if he should buy one.
The next problem to me was pretty funny, because it involved Carlson becoming slightly nervous about being on camera. He tried on three different jackets and windbreakers, and four different hats before deciding he looked appropriate for the taping. After telling him the hat would cause a shadow on his face with the light, he slanted it upwards but gave me the look of "I'm not taking it off". Knowing he is a very hard man to change or convince of something, I decided to just leave it alone, as he was already doing me what seemed to be a very uncomfortable favor.
The interview lasted about 5 minutes as I asked questions ranging from where he has played and coach, to who is favorite MLB player is and what the outlook of this season for RWU is. He answered every question extremely well, however it was difficult to get him to say "My favorite player is...." or "I think the biggest challenge is....", instead he just answered the questions as you normally would for a print interview. Although Scully would have like to see the final video include these entire sentences, I believe it actually came out very good. After the interview Carlson asked me to come down and film a a few seconds of their practice, because he wanted to see the quality of the camera and see how close you had to be to tape hitters in the batting cage. I did and he appreciated the power of the Flip Ultra Video Camera. I told him I would send him the video of the hitters the next day
Just as I thought everything was going great, I hit the biggest wall ever. When I went to upload the video, the computer kept saying error. This happened to me once before and I lost all my videos. This time I tried the update on the camera. Not knowing if this would be a huge waste of time or a miracle I decided to wait the hour to update the camera. It actually worked and all my video saved perfectly, and my camera now works better than ever. The drawback to this was that this took up the entire class time on Thursday and I lost all hopes for editing before the weekend.
Scully informed us he wanted the final video on line by Sunday night. This posed a huge problem because I was planning on going home Thursday night for my internship in Hartford until Sunday night. Scully, realizing the importance of my internship and understanding that I had no edditing tools at home, gave me an extension until Monday at 5pm.
So for the past hour I have walked all over campus looking for an open Mac Computer with final cut pro on it. I went to North Campus, (there was a class) The school of business (another class) and the library (all Mac computers taken). So I sat down and waited until the first available Mac computer opened.
Then about an hour or two of editing and I'm finally done. The longest story and the longest assignment is finally over. This is my first real editing of an interview with Final Cut Pro on the Flip Video Ultra camera. I want to thank Derek Carlson for being such a good sport and doing this with me, and also professor Scully for giving me an extra day under the circumstances.
Let me first start by saying that this assignment took much longer than it ever should have. The first step was finding someone to interview, that was the easy part. I chose Derek Carlson, the head baseball coach here at Roger Williams University. I played baseball for Coach Carlson as a Freshman and I have been doing work study for him ever since. I chose him because I felt comfortable talking with him and knew he would go out of his way to let me do this project. The tough part was having to deal with him giving me a hard time about video taping it and putting it online, although I knew he would ultimately come through for me. We scheduled an interview for Wednesday afternoon, and this is where the difficulties began.
After setting up a time to interview him and film some of his teams practice, we received an e-mail from professor Scully asking us to not do the interviews before Thursdays class because he wanted to go over some interviewing skills, since our last batch of videos turned out to be nothing but amateur first time garbage. I had to tell Carlson that we would have to reschedule. Then, Wednesday afternoon I saw Carlson at 3:30 about 30 min after our previously scheduled interview, where he gave me a hard time and said he never got my e-mail about canceling and asked why I never showed up. After feeling bad and expecting him not to do the interview anymore, he admitted he was joking and just likes to give me a hard time. Thanks Coach.
In Thursdays class, Professor Scully gave us some great tips on conducting an interview, but said we now how to have our interviews due on Tuesday. Little did we all know that there would be a huge snow storm on Friday, canceling classes and causing students and teachers alike, to fled campus early. Not knowing if practices were canceled for the weekend I e-mailed Carlson to do the interview on Monday, and to my surprise, he does not come in on Mondays. This put me in a tough predicament because I now had no way of getting an interview done by Tuesday. Then, Scully came to the rescue yet again. Realizing everyone would have problems with the snow day and the weekend, he pushed the due date back until Thursday. He says it was for us, but I think it was because he wanted a reason not to have class on Tuesday. (He claims he had the flu, I don't by it)
Finally, I got to do the interview with Carlson on Wednesday. When I showed up to his office, he was so impressed with the Flip Video Ultra Camera, that he spent the first 15-20 minutes talking about it, asking questions, and wondering if he should buy one.
The next problem to me was pretty funny, because it involved Carlson becoming slightly nervous about being on camera. He tried on three different jackets and windbreakers, and four different hats before deciding he looked appropriate for the taping. After telling him the hat would cause a shadow on his face with the light, he slanted it upwards but gave me the look of "I'm not taking it off". Knowing he is a very hard man to change or convince of something, I decided to just leave it alone, as he was already doing me what seemed to be a very uncomfortable favor.
The interview lasted about 5 minutes as I asked questions ranging from where he has played and coach, to who is favorite MLB player is and what the outlook of this season for RWU is. He answered every question extremely well, however it was difficult to get him to say "My favorite player is...." or "I think the biggest challenge is....", instead he just answered the questions as you normally would for a print interview. Although Scully would have like to see the final video include these entire sentences, I believe it actually came out very good. After the interview Carlson asked me to come down and film a a few seconds of their practice, because he wanted to see the quality of the camera and see how close you had to be to tape hitters in the batting cage. I did and he appreciated the power of the Flip Ultra Video Camera. I told him I would send him the video of the hitters the next day
Just as I thought everything was going great, I hit the biggest wall ever. When I went to upload the video, the computer kept saying error. This happened to me once before and I lost all my videos. This time I tried the update on the camera. Not knowing if this would be a huge waste of time or a miracle I decided to wait the hour to update the camera. It actually worked and all my video saved perfectly, and my camera now works better than ever. The drawback to this was that this took up the entire class time on Thursday and I lost all hopes for editing before the weekend.
Scully informed us he wanted the final video on line by Sunday night. This posed a huge problem because I was planning on going home Thursday night for my internship in Hartford until Sunday night. Scully, realizing the importance of my internship and understanding that I had no edditing tools at home, gave me an extension until Monday at 5pm.
So for the past hour I have walked all over campus looking for an open Mac Computer with final cut pro on it. I went to North Campus, (there was a class) The school of business (another class) and the library (all Mac computers taken). So I sat down and waited until the first available Mac computer opened.
Then about an hour or two of editing and I'm finally done. The longest story and the longest assignment is finally over. This is my first real editing of an interview with Final Cut Pro on the Flip Video Ultra camera. I want to thank Derek Carlson for being such a good sport and doing this with me, and also professor Scully for giving me an extra day under the circumstances.
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