Dearest Eli,

I never ask much of you, so please take this note seriously.

It is of the utmost importance that you have the game of your life today, which means none of those nasty interceptions you have a tendancy to throw.

You know I have supported you through thick and thin and this is all I ask of you in return. Remember when you refused to sign with the Chargers and everyone criticized you for it? I backed you up. Remember when everyone said that you were horrible because you threw like… 6 interceptions in a game? I said that you were a Manning so you still won! Remember when my Dad said you were funny looking? I told him that you were the best looking guy in the NFL! I even side with you over Tiki.

I’m not asking for a Superbowl victory, just for you to beat Tom Brady and keep the ball in your hand so that Brady doesn’t throw 2 and break big brother’s record.

Thank you so much.

All my love,
Coral

I know that Billy gets a bad wrap. And I know that I talk about him too much. But 18 years ago today baseball lost one of the greatest minds it has ever seen when Billy Martin passed away, and I believe that it is necessary to pay some tribute to him.

I regret every day that I did not get the opportunity to see Billy play or manage, and even more so the chance to discuss baseball strategy with him. No matter how many books I read about him or how many shows I watch about him there is no way to possibly learn everything.

I know that I am in the minority of people who worship Martin, but there is more than good reason to do so. Sure a .257 career batting average isn’t great, but a .333 lifetime Series average is. And look at Guidry’s numbers in ’77, outstanding. He couldn’t have won those 25 games without Martin there. Martin made DiMaggio’s last year with the club more comfortable. And no matter what people say about him he was not that bad of an influence on the Mick, or anyone for that matter, Mickey, Whitey, and Rizzuto all roomed with Billy the years that they won MVPs.

But I don’t feel a need to prove to anyone how great Billy was as a player or a manager today. Just a need to remember him. Honestly though, I remember him everyday. Billy always wore a cross and a religious pendant. Everyday I wear a cross and a charm that reads "I love baseball". I believe in God, but this is also a tribute to Billy, a man who even after his passing has instilled so much baseball knowledge and passion in me about baseball and Yankee history. Thanks Billy.

"Your **** right I know about Yankee tradition. We only won 6 pennants and 5 World Series while I was there and I was MVP of one of them so I think I know a little something about Yankee tradition."- Billy Martin, Bronx is Burning

Merry Christmas to everyone!

More accurately Happy Holidays since not everyone celebrates Christmas.

I for one have had a very Merry Christmas… Full of Peyton Manning, Billy Martin and Joe DiMaggio.

I got the Bronx is Burning World Championship DVD amongst many other baseball and football themed gifts.

I even went so far as to make a Billy Martin angel cookie and a Peyton Manning gingerbread man.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful time with their families this season.

Roger Clemens issued a video denying all accusations of steroids today.

I want to believe it. And if it is true than I apologize with every fiber of my being for ever doubting Roger.

When it comes down to it, I believe in Machiavellian principles which state that all people are inherently self-interested. Given it is arguably best for the game if Roger did not really use steroids: honestly, who wants to see one of the biggest forces in the game, and one of the best pitchers of all time, participating in the biggest scandal of all time? It simply isn’t good for the fans, and therein isn’t good for baseball.

So while my heart wants to believe Roger, my brain is telling me not to. But in the end when it comes to matters of love, passion, and baseball it seems that the heart almost always wins out.

Maybe this is making Roger into some figure, some being, that is not attainable in this lifetime. Larger than life. But I tend to do that with people I consider heroes.

Peyton Manning is a perfect example. I have made him out to be the end all be all of human existance. Seeing Peyton in person has actually changed the way I watch football, and made me far less stressed (I no longer worry that he will get injured before I have the opportunity to see him).

I realized today while the Patriots game was on how much I look up to Peyton. I had to walk away from the game, because the idea of seeing Brady inch closer to the record made me sick. Anyone encroaching upon it would be bad, but of course it is so much worse since it is a Patriot. I understand that this just feeds into the rivalry, and adds fuel to the fire of those who live and breath for Brady, but its how I feel. So when it comes down to it, I just can’t bare to think of my hero’s record falling to someone I just can’t stand… maybe it makes him a little more mortal, and for whatever reason I can’t handle that.

Dealing with Roger has been difficult. My Dad keeps hasseling me about it because he has never liked Roger, not as a Red Sox, certainly not as a Yankee, and nowhere in betweeen. But at the end of the day I consider Roger a hero, and not seeing him pitch in person one of my greater regrets.

Earlier my Dad said that "the Colts aren’t for sure going to win in the playoffs, for all you know they could come out tomorrow and say ‘Sorry, Peyton, we found you with steroids.’" And I realized that if that were infact to happen the entire foundation of my world would fall down around me.

Perhaps it isn’t the wisest thing to put so many of your hopes and dreams on the shoulders of individuals who (people time and time again remind me) don’t even know you exist. But at the end of the day that is what I, and many others, have done. Professional sports provide us with people to look up to who can do the extraordinary things that we wish we could do, they provide us from a distraction from our ordinary lives, and even though they may not want to they sometimes provide us with role models.

Heres to hoping that I (and other similarly situated fans) can set aside my Machiavellian principles and continue to believe in the good of the game. I think Billy Chapel said it best "The game doesn’t stink, Mr. Wheeler. It’s a great game."

Raider fans really get a bad wrap.

Honestly they were much nicer, much funnier, and much less trashy than the Chargers fans. This isn’t to say that there were not a few who made some rude comments because Ali and I were all decked out in our Colts’ gear, but for the most part they were just having good hearted fun with us. They were anxious to talk actual football with me, and just have a great time before the game.

Seeing Peyton for the second time was amazing. At one point we thought we had seen him run the ball in for a touchdown, but after review that wasn’t the case. This time Vina"scari" actually made a few field goals this time around too! Peyton threw a touchdown to Ben Utecht. And the Colts won.

It was also interesting seeing JeMarcus Russel.

The whole weekend was amazing. The Raiders’ fans were so much fun, and much nicer than anticipated.

So to answer anyone’s question… I survived my first Raider game!

PS- Thanks Ali, Marky, Angelo, and Perla for a great weekend

This is a question that was posed to me just a few moments ago.

I honestly don’t know that I have an answer.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about how dependent I am, as a person, on baseball. I don’t like baseball, I don’t love baseball, I need baseball. I’m like an addict. I cannot function in my daily life without it. A large portion of my monetary resources go into it. I use it as a safety blanket when I feel uncomfortable (when studying gets too hard, I start writing…). There are, obviously, a lot worse things to be addicted to.

So why, when the thing I love more than anything is being called into question am I so calm about it?

Maybe because I have two finals tomorrow. Maybe because I’m dealing with another form of heartbreak entirely. Maybe because I’m going to see Peyton Manning on Sunday.

Or maybe because I know that Bud Selig will do little to nothing about it. And that all the time and energy that is being used on the Mitchell Report isn’t going to matter at the start of the season.

I really thought that seeing Roger Clemens’ name up on that list was going to hurt a lot more, but when I woke up to a text from my dad saying he was named I was left oddly unphased.

I’m disappointed to say that the man I have put so much faith in has been put on a list more infamous than that of the Chicago Black Sox. This man that I claimed is the best pitcher of all time. Someone that I backed whole heartedly for years.

It kind of takes away from the lore of the game. The American Dream is that everyone is equal and that with hard work and perserverence one can reach the top, and baseball is the perfect embodyment of that. Any boy from the size of David Eckstein to Randy Johnson can make it to the Minors, and any boy that works hard enough at what he loves can make it to the Majors. This, in theory, inherently makes steroid use un-American. Everyone is no longer equal. In a very Orwellian (circa 1984) way of looking about things there are those that are then equal and those who are double plus equal.

But Selig won’t do anything. There won’t be any asteriks. Though there probably should be. In fact I’d be in favor of asteriks next to every record broken by any of the players who were named, including my beloved Roger.

It simply isn’t fair to put the names of guys that used in the same books as the guys who didn’t.

And certainly not in the same Hall.

What a guy does off the field isn’t my business, most of the time, but this effects his performance on the field, and that is unfair, and unbaseball.

In a perfect world this would motivate Selig or the League to really do something. Honestly though it probably wont. It isn’t that the League isn’t strong enough, but rather that they continually take the easy way out of doing things, with the exception of the 1919 scandal and Pete Rose.

Both of those offesnses were less, in my opinion. But to each his own.

Maybe I didn’t learn my lesson.

Maybe I never will.

I’m going up north on Saturday with my best friend and her Dad to watch the Colts vs Raiders game on Sunday.

I know, I know, "if you thought Chargers fans were bad wait ’til you see the Raiders’ fans."

Honestly, its a chance I’m willing to take.

And I will wear my colors. All of them. Because I believe in Peyton Manning and the Colts.

I’m honestly very excited for this game, this will be the first time Ali and I get to see Peyton in action together. Ali isn’t a football fan, but she is a fan of me, and inherently a fan of the Colts. Honestly thats what a great best friend does. Supports you and your team through thick and thin.

I digress. This will probably not be the best game ever played, but seeing Peyton in person again isn’t something I can pass up.

I’ll write more on it later, but finals week is… finals week. Ugh.

Baseball (currently) feels like a bad relationship.

The kind of bad relationship where you are lied to and decieved.

I lost so much respect for baseball today when I woke up to realize that Billy Martin was not inducted by the Veteran’s to the Hall of Fame. It seems difficult to deny the talent and passion Billy possessed for the game. Yet time and time again baseball does so. I thought the Hall was reserved for those who made the game great, Billy did that. For all of you reading this that saw Billy manage and are thinking "if you only saw him, Coral, you wouldn’t think that" I’ll trade you the baseball I’ve grown up with in a heart beat for what you got.

Didn’t think so.

There are also people who think the Hall should be reserved for those who redefined the game. Again this describes Billy to a T. So I’m not sure what qualifications the committee is holding these guys to, but I am sure I’ve never heard of them.

And I realize that integrity is part of what one needs to get in the Hall, but Ty Cobb is in there and he said he would want Billy on his team, so if that is why these people are keeping him out, then they should take out Cobb while their at it.

But this isn’t just about the Veteran’s Committee, oh no, its about something so much bigger.

The game can’t even stay clean. In fact its making little to no effort, even with the Mitchell report to do so. Go on baseball, lie and decieve us some more. How can these people pass judgement on former players when they aren’t working, or forcing the esteemed Mr. Selig to work, towards making the game pure again?

If we aren’t going to put Billy in the Hall because some people think he wasn’t moral enough how can it even be a DEBATE if Bonds can get in?

But just like a bad relationship, none of us will break up with baseball. We love baseball too much. It would hurt to bad in the long run, even though it hurts so bad right now. So we’ll turn a blind eye and make excuses for all the things baseball does wrong, because we can’t stand to accept the truth.

Maybe baseball doesn’t feel the same way about us.

No matter what the veterans or any others say, I know deep down that Billy belongs in the Hall as much, if not more, than anyone who made it today, or ever before.

My Thanksgiving was much better than anticipated, especially with the news that Mr. Hunter acquired a Halo.

This seemed to be a long time coming, as Torii flashy defense should fit in perfectly with the Angels.

However, I doubt that Torri is enough protection for Vladdy. And by doubt, I mean know. And while I hope that Juan Rivera’s return will add to this, it is not for certain that it will.

So that leaves Angels’ fans wondering where that big bat we were promised when Orlando Cabrera left is. Miguel Cabrera, right?

Probably not. The asking price for him is way to high, and it seems like Marlins management has already backed out of a few deals. Good move, offer up the whole farm and get rid of a Gold Glove short stop for one player. It seems as though there is no way to get Cabrera without giving up Howie Kendrick. This is the worst idea the club has had in a long time. Howie has come up through the club, knows how the organization works, and has all the potential in the world to be one of the all time greats.

On another note the veterans ballot Hall of Famers will be announced Monday. I have my fingers crossed and butterflies in my stomach over Billy Martin. There are few managers in the history of the game that I believe deserve to be in the Hall more than Billy, but you all know that.

Finals are coming up soon, unfortuantely, so I will try to update as often as possible, but may be busy….