I won’t lie. This is one of the most boring videos I’ve ever posted. St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach Mark McGwire and slugger Albert Pujols are talking shop in the batting cage while the wind covers up their conversation. I’m no expert on hitting coaches so I might be wrong about this but Mark McGwire does a great job of putting balls on a tee.

Fans of the Cardinals got great news today when it was announced Pujols’ right elbow is 95 percent healed, and Doctor James Andrews says it’s highly unlikely Pujols will ever require Tommy John surgery. A completely healthy Pujols is a scary thought for opposing pitchers and the record books.

Prince Fielder won the 2009 Home Run Derby, disappointing the people of St. Louis who were pulling for hometown hero Albert Pujols. While Fielder gets to celebrate with his theme song, Pujols has to settle for staring at his towel guy’s number five mohawk.

Albert better have this dude on the payroll. That’s the only way to explain the haircut. That, or the dude bet Pujols he couldn’t hit 32 home runs by the All-Star break.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I been caught up in the world, some business, some pleasure, but I still should’ve done a better job of keeping up. I let a number of things slip by that I wanted to talk about, and I had some videos for y’all to check out. I don’t wanna make any excuses cause like I said, some of it’s been pleasure, so I been slackin.

If I had been on my game I woulda had a post about the All-Star game. I woulda mentioned how the only thing missing from the 4 hour pre-game show was Willie Mays’ son threatening to turn his pops into a fudgesicle. I thought the game was all right, and in the 9th inning when LaRussa didn’t put Pujols in, I knew where Tony was coming from. Just a few weeks ago when the Angels played the Cardinals, Rodriguez had Pujols looking silly. And I’m a Cards fan.

This clip was in honor of Ichiro winning the MVP.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtY6iJTHELU]

I’m still trying to figure out why Ichiro needed an interpreter for the post game interview.

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The PGA is gonna try to drum up interest in the FedEx Cup Playoffs with a series of “Golfer meets Athlete” commercials. Go here if you have no idea about the Cup and how it works. The running theme is the golfers are seeking advice because they’re in their first playoff. Here’s Sergio Garcia trying to work on his game face:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTfHjaKBXuQ]

Since Serg sounds like a 14 year old, it’s gonna be hard for him to intimidate anybody.

Jim Furyk turns to Jerome Bettis:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIarPkrWK5g]

Jerome likes to eat..I didn’t know that. They need to cut a commercial with Angel Cabrera. I picture Angel sitting in a foggy room, smoking a cigarette, and asking Ray Lewis for playoff advice.

Here’s a Tiger commercial, which according to this article, is not the one that will be running. The official commercial shows Tiger lacing up his shoes and whistling “Eye of the Tiger”. He’s sticking with the “No living man shall tell me shit” theme in this ad:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWhfGyFyKvI]

I don’t know when that was shot, but Tiger’s been eating better since then.

If you haven’t had enough of these sidebusters check out Ernie Els and Phil Simms.

Stars, sports legends in campaign for first-ever PGA Tour FedExCup Playoff. Courtesy of CBS Sportsline

FedExCup Fan Guide. Courtesy of the PGA Tour

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We’re all familiar with the Madden jinx whether we believe it or not. I’m a believer. Hell, I tried to have one of my ex-girlfriends put on the cover.. The EA peeps are kinda tight when it comes to the covers so I had to resort to voodoo… I guess my roots worked cause she just got sentenced to 45 days in jail…Anyways… There are some people that don’t believe in the Madden curse.. Namely the employees over at EA Sports:

While much has been made over the years for the “Madden jinx”, landing on the pack of one of EA’s high popular games has actually been a good omen for many of today’s biggest stars. Consider this:

Tony Stewart, a two-time NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series champion, has appeared twice previously as an EA SPORTS spokesman. After covering EA’s NASCAR franchise in 2001, Stewart won the 2002 title, while the driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet again won in 2005 after fronting NASCAR Thunder 2004.

After gracing the cover of MVP Baseball 2004, St. Louis Cardinals All-Star Albert Pujols went on to be named the MVP of the 2004 NLCS in leading the Cardinals to the World Series.

Dwyane Wade and the Miami Heat won the 2006 NBA title after Wade covered NBA LIVE 06.

Tracy McGrady (NBA LIVE 07) averaged nearly 25 ppg to lead the Houston Rockets to the NBA Playoffs, where they are knotted 2-2 in the first round with the Utah Jazz.

Need we mention Tiger Woods?

I can easily shoot down EA’s argument by saying yeah but:

• Tony Stewart tends to act like a jackass.
• The Cardinals got swept in the World Series and are playing like crap now.
• Dwayne Wade cried on the basketball court and his team got swept out of the playoffs.
• McGrady and the Rockets lost game 7 at home.
• Tiger Woods got married.

If EA Sports really wants to prove they don’t believe in the curse I think CEO Larry Probst should be on the cover of the next Madden. He would probably end up getting eaten by an alligator, and the Madden franchise would become second fiddle to Tirico Football.

Madden Jinx: EA Sports’ rebuttal. Courtesy of The Sporting News

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