Now That's What I Call a Loser

It turns out that Pete Rose didn't even win those bets which eventually caused his dismissal from Major League Baseball. Not even the ones he placed on his own team while he was the manager (although he seems to have lost less on those games than on games in which he had no impact on the results).

Bill James on Craig Biggio

A nice little article in Slate from the Godfather of Sabermetrics, about how Biggio was one of James' favorite players for years before the sheen wore off. Money quote:

I'll still say today, if there was a draft and you could look ahead and say, "OK, that guy's going to be Ken Griffey, that guy's going to be Frank Thomas, that guy's going to be Juan Gonzalez, that guy's going to be Tom Glavine, that guy's going to be Craig Biggio," just give me Biggio and I'll take my chances. Maybe that's not what the numbers say is the right answer, but Biggio was the guy who would do whatever needed to be done. Makes it a lot easier to build a team.

And then the story went on a little too long. You ever go to a movie, it' s pretty good for about an hour and a half but then the story is over but it's like the director can't find the ending so it goes on for another half-hour looking for some way to tie things together? That's kind of Biggio's career; it was over, and then it went on for quite awhile.

It's a nice bit of perspective on Biggio, from the obvious perspective of a non-partisan baseball fan. I've never especially liked Biggio, probably because he killed the Cards too many times through sheer peskiness, but I've grown to appreciate him a bit more after reading it.

My favorite Biggio moment is still having him get thrown out at second trying to stretch his 3,000th hit from a single to a double, but he really was a good player for a long time.

Best. Play. Ever

More Bad News for Michael Vick

I kid you not:

Embattled NFL quarterback Michael Vick, facing federal charges related to his alleged participation in dogfighting, has been hit with a "$63,000,000,000 billion dollar" lawsuit filed by a South Carolina inmate who alleges the Atlanta Falcons star stole his pit bulls and sold them on eBay to buy "missiles from Iran," FOX News has learned.

Riches alleges that Vick stole two white mixed pit bull dogs from his home in Holiday, Fla., and used them for dogfighting operations in Richmond, Va. The complaint goes on to allege that Vick sold the dogs on eBay and “used the proceeds to purchase missiles from the Iran government.”

The complaint also alleges that Vick would need those missiles because he pledged allegiance to Al Qaeda in February of this year.

“Michael Vick has to stop physically hurting my feelings and dashing my hopes,” Riches writes in the complaint.

Riches wants $63 billion dollars “backed by gold and silver “ delivered to the front gates to the Williamsburg Federal Correctional facility in South Carolina. Riches is an inmate at the facility serving out a wire fraud conviction.