An Interview with MsChif

In case you're not closely connected to the big happenings here at BertFlex, we are making a trip over to the East Side on Friday night! Unfortunately for you pervs, it's not what you're thinking. We're heading to Collinsville to catch the Ring of Honor wrestling show.

It is ROH's first time in the STL area, and the promotion has produced some of the best young wrestling talent out there today. You won't see many Zubaz-wearing, mullet-flowing, flabby wrasslers of the late 80's there on Friday; ROH will produce a strong show, with less douchebaggery (until we show up).

As a preview to the show, I did a quick hits email interview with one of the women we'll be seeing there - MsChif. I've seen her a few times when Gateway Championship Wrestling was around. She'll be wrestling another former GCW star Daizee Haze, and it should be a really good match for the SHIMMER title.

For a little background on MsChif, check her Wikipedia page (all the top bloggers use that for research) or this article from SLAM! Sports, or just go straight to MsChif.net for a lot more.

Here's what we've got:

1) I'm not sure if you grew up here, so I've got a couple options for this first one: the standard St. Louis question - where did you go to high school? Or - how long have you lived in the St. Louis area? Also, trying not to sound creepy, but what are your favorite things to do/places to go/eat/hang out around town?

St. Louis? What? Hey, I live in the Inferno man. IHOP! Yes, IHOP exists in the Inferno.

2) I asked a few of our contributors if they had any questions that they would like to be answered. One of them wants to know if you're single? The "creepy" factor is off the charts now, but for the sake of my blogger journalism excellence, I have to ask the tough questions...

Taken.

3) When did you start watching wrestling? Who were your favorites growing up?

Too young to recall. I always liked Bruiser Brody, Superfly Jimmy Snuka, The Rockers, Rock n Roll Express, Legion of Doom....

4) In regards to women's wrestling in the US, do you think ROH and SHIMMER are making a significant impact to combat the "pillow-fighting diva" image so many people have?

Hell yes, as long as people take the time to watch both promotions!

5) Most (not all) of us at the 'Flex are reasonably intelligent and recognize the line between work and shoot. Do you encounter fans (adults) who take pro wrestling a little too seriously? If so, how do you handle the situation?

Fortunately, not really. I hope it remains that way.

6) Who is a wrestler (male or female) at any level that you'd like to wrestle against?

Good Question...

7) What's the most inventive weapon you've ever used during a match? What would you like to use but haven't gotten the chance yet?

Green Mist!! :) A spiked vest? Really I don't dream of using weapons. Not usually necessary.

8) We know you're a tough girl and all, but we're still going to make you choose between "Dirty Dancing" and "Steel Magnolias" for best chick movie ever.

Oh come on!! Give me horror movies!! I've never even seen Steel Magnolias.

9) How badly will Daizee Haze get her ass kicked this Friday at the show?

As much as it takes to keep the SHIMMER title.

Thanks again to MsChif and we'll see her Friday! For more info on the ROH show, click here

A Hard Nine With Minorleagueball.com's John Sickels

Well, crap. Now that the Tampa Bay Rays’ miracle season has come to a premature end, we’re 100+ days from spring training. Don’t worry – your friendly neighborhood BertFlex is here to keep the baseball chatter going during the long, cold, miserable offseason.

To wit: John Sickels is the auteur of minorleagueball.com and way too classy to speak with a fourth-rate blog like us. But don’t tell him that. We sat down with the Hammerin’ Sickels for another of our trademark, Jim Rome-approved interviews.

1. We at BertFlex are big fans of Brett Wallace. Some of us don't know if he can stick at third defensively. What's your expert opinion?

Well, I absolutely love the bat. I think he would be a better fit at first base, but obviously that's not an option for the Cardinals unless Albert has a catastrophic injury of some kind. From what I saw of Wallace in college, he has the arm for third base, and he is actually a pretty good athlete for his size, but his range is no better than average, and as he gets older and slows down that could deteriorate further. However, if he hits as expected, the tradeoff of mediocre defense/outstanding hitting is likely worthwhile.

2. Sticking on the Cardinals front: After Colby Rasmus's disappointing 2008 (granted, injuries played a major factor), have your thoughts on him changed at all? Do you see him as a sure thing or just the best the Cards have right now? Or is he even that?

I still love Rasmus, and I'm not worried about him at this point. The balance of skills is still there. He didn't lose his strike zone judgment. 2008 was the equivalent of his junior year in college, so just be patient. I think he will be fine.

3. How many minor league games do you attend in a season? Does one particular game/memory stick out?

Not enough. I live in Lawrence, KS, which is now about 150 miles from the nearest minor league city thanks to Wichita losing their team in 2008. In most seasons, I do a lot of driving around the Midwest and get good coverage of the Texas League, the Pacific Coast League, and the Midwest League, plus the Arizona Fall League, 25-30 games in a good year. But in 2007 and 2008, we had some family deaths and other tragedies that prevented me from traveling much during the season.

Hopefully, we can get some stability back in 2009 and I can get back on a normal schedule. This is a handicap at times, but it is what it is. I prefer to see players in person, but I have sources I trust who can see players that I can't see and who give me good information when needed. The explosion of video now available on the Internet has helped immensely.

As for 2008, probably the most interesting game I saw this year was a Texas League game in early April between Tulsa and San Antonio, featuring numerous strong prospects on both clubs. Will Inman of the Padres showed me one hell of a breaking ball in that game.

4. (Editor’s Note: The fourth Q&A has gone missing, possibly due to a cut-and-paste mishap. We believe in a hard nine rather than a hard eight (that’s what she said), so we’re including this placeholder. We hope to recover the missing question in time for inclusion on the BertFlex 30th Anniversary DVD.)

5. How much would I have to pay you to get my own entry in the 2009 Prospect Handbook? What's your process for putting that book together each season?

Well, I'm working on the book right now. It will have reports on more than 1,000 players, so space is at a premium ... sorry, at this point we aren't taking custom player orders.

Basically, I write it team-by-team. I usually start off with a list of 50-60 players in each system worth writing about, based on stats and scouting reports. The hardest part is paring that down to 36-38 players per team. Someone cool always gets left out, but if I included everyone the book would take five months to write instead of three, and would be so big no one could carry it to the bathroom to read. (Editor’s Note: Methinks he misunderestimates the BertFlex crowd.)

6. Judging by your SBNation profile, you're a big politics and history buff. Has the current election cycle bolstered or deflated your faith in Americans' ability to handle the responsibilities of democracy?

We will know in another week. Yes, I am a big history buff; I have an MA in European history and worked on my PhD for three years before giving it up for baseball. American history is the long story of our struggle to live up to the ideals enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. I try to keep my politics out of my baseball writing, but it sneaks in sometimes, and anyone who has read my work over the years can probably figure out where I stand on things.

7. Better classic rock drummer: Keith Moon or John Bonham? (Hint: The correct answer is John Bonham.)

I'm sorry, the correct answer is Nick Mason, circa 1973-1975.

8. Bold prediction time: Who will be the Evan Longoria of 2009?

Matt Wieters, who will hit .279 with a .353 OBP and 25 homers.

9. Do you play baseball/softball in any capacity? I only ask because we're going to be playing in a wiffle ball league this winter and could use another body.

I play catch in the spring and summer with my son, and was a decent wiffleball player in my youth. I had a good arm and could hit a little, but was an awful fielder, a slow runner, and a poor athlete overall. I never did much with actual Little League, which was too structured for my tastes. When I was a kid, I used to play whiffle ball with some neighbors across the street. One of them was Mike Mahoney, who eventually ended up playing some in the majors.

The BertFlex crew sincerely thanks Mr. Sickels for his time and tolerance.

The Wallace Interview (Linx/Stuff/Junk)

Here's a quick Linx/Stuff/Junk preview: My interview with Brett Wallace this past weekend is up on insideSTL.

For a little extra mo' reading, check the draft recap post for my thoughts on the Wallace pick back in June.

And for the rest of L/S/J, check back late tonight or tomorrow and I'll have it posted. Hack, the ML, and I will be watching Manny be Manny tonight at the stadium. Later mangs.

Update 8/8 - (looking at calendar) oops, yeah. Here's the rest:

-On Mizzourah, I expose another k.u.chebag, and reference how I converted the Librarian into a lesbian. Of course, that didn't happen. Or did it?

-This week's SN column by our own Good Face.

-Also, TGF holds it down this week on Fungoes.net. That's a lot of numbers crunchin' on the 8/5 post. And not even a wrasslin' reference? Did you have to wear a suit and tie to blog for them, TGF? If that's your real name...


Well, that's all I've got - no girl blogs this week. Finally.

Burp.

A Hard Nine With Cardinals Beat Writer Matthew Leach

Continuing our tradition of asking big names big questions, we finagled an interview with StLCardinals.com beat writer Matthew Leach, who is your year-round source for Cardinals info and other stuff. We generally don't like seriuzz jurnalizts who try to butter their bread on both sides by maintaining a blog as well as writing hard-hitting news, but Matthew (Matt? Matty? M-Dawg?) is truly a gentleman and a scholar who has been putting up with annoying Cards fans like me for years. We thank him sincerely for his time.

1. Obligatory Cardinals fan boy question: I had this team pegged for 75 wins before the season started. They already have 64. Give me one good reason why I should believe they're for real. (Yes, I realize that's not a question.)

I was certainly a doubter for a long time. But at this point in the season, the reason to believe it is that there are only 45 games left in the season. At some point, it's legitimate, right?

2. Fill in the blanks: I get to the park at ___. I leave at ___. My favorite part of the time between is ___.

1. 3:15 or so for a night game. 10 a.m. or so for a day game.

2. About two hours after the last out.

3. The game, of course! Seriously, I love the game more than ever. This is a job, and sometimes it feels like a job. But I often say, every day they pay me to come to the park is a good day. My favorite part of the WORK, though, is writing a game story. If I make people feel like they were at the game, I feel good about my day's work.

3. Since we at BertFlex are not serious journalists, we'll probably never get to see the inside of the Cardinals pressbox. Tell us something we don't know about it (free food, free beverages, annoying co-workers who could remain anonymous if necessary, etc.).

Free munchies, but not free dinner; can't really complain about that. Free soda, though the coffee is awful -- I'd be happy to pay if we got decent coffee. But then I'm a caffeine addict.

One thing you wouldn't know is that I have the single best seat in the press box. Don't know why, don't know how, but I have the one seat that is on the most direct line behind home plate, in the front row, just generally a fine location.

4. I defy anyone to tell me that Major League isn't the best baseball movie ever made. Do you agree, or do we need to throw hands?

Evidently, we're going to have to throw down. I'm a die-hard Bull Durham guy. I will tell you this, though -- most ballplayers that I know see it your way. The vast majority of players, coaches, etc., whom I've talked to prefer Major League.

5. A large part of the BertFlex staff and readership (or as we like to call him, "Steve") play the fantasy baseball. Do you? If so, how's your team doing? Do a lot of the MLB beat-niks play?

I do. I'm in a league that involves a couple of other STL media types, and this year I am steamrolling them. I'm not a player, I just crush a lot. I think the younger the beat demographic gets, the more people play fantasy. There are some who are still strongly opposed to it.

6. Without ticking anyone off, which of the Cardinals gives the best interview? Who is no fun to interview after a loss?

The thing is, it's not really that black and white. There are guys who are really interesting and insightful in a long, one-on-one, sitdown interview, who are TERRIBLE if you just need a quote to plug in a story postgame. There are guys who are consistently accessible and at least somewhat insightful postgame, who don't have a lot to say in more freeform scenarios.

So with that said, a few stars:

Adam Wainwright is probably the all-around interview star of this team. He's very good postgame. He understands it's part of the job, good or bad. And he's good in longer-form interviews too. Chris Carpenter is in the same category -- insightful, accessible, thoughtful.

Skip Schumaker gets it. He and Aaron Miles are both "go-to" guys postgame. Troy Glaus has been a very pleasant surprise, though big group things are not his best environment. He's a good 1-on-1 guy. Very good.

I won't tell you who I have hard times with, though I am very happy to say that it's a decidedly short list this year.

7. In the event that one of us decides to crack the spine of a book before our time on this mortal coil expires, what should we read? Keep in mind that our attention will only be held if the subject is baseball.

Well, of COURSE you should read Game of My Life: Memorable Stories of Cardinals Baseball by Matthew Leach, available at bookstores throughout greater St. Louis, at Amazon.com and at SportsPublishingLLC.com. Great book, and I hear the author is a terrific guy. Modest, too.

Beyond that, the best baseball book I've read in the past couple years is Jonathan Eig's Luckiest Man, an absolutely magnificent Lou Gehrig biography.

And if you claim to be a baseball fan but have never read Ball Four, well, shame on you. Just, shame on you.

8. Admit it: Fans can be annoying sometimes. What question do you hope you never have to answer again?

(insert insincere denial here) OK, now that we've gotten that out of the way, well, I'd have to say the one I don't want to hear anymore is, “What is Bo Hart up to?” And believe me, I still get it in my email regularly.

9. If you had the talent to play in the majors (and maybe you do - it's possible that you just don't want to make everybody else look bad and choose to write about the game instead), what position would you play and what kind of player would you be? Scrappy, surly, Manny-esque, etc.?

No, no talent here. The only sport I could ever play with ANY skill was tennis, and I certainly couldn't claim to have been good at that.

I always wanted to play second base, for reasons I can't quite explain. Mark Loretta is a guy that comes to mind. Solid defender, good hitter with a good idea of the strike zone, good teammate. To go back a little further, to one of my favorite players from my youth, Marty Barrett is another one. Barrett in ‘84 -- 303/358/383 (Editor’s Note: Minus five points to Mr. Leach here. I don’t like fact-checking.) -- for some reason I think that's sort of what I would have been. Especially since 303/358/383 in 1984 is equivalent to like 320/390/420 now.

Cardinal Blogger Appreciation Month: FutureRedbirds.net

Welcome to the fourth installment of Cardinal Blogger Appreciation Month (BAM!). This time, we'll visit with Erik from FutureRedbirds.net. Before you email me saying how dumb I am, please note that they changed from ".com" to ".net" earlier this month. So I'm still dumb, just for other reasons.

During the past three BAM entries, I've done a good job of sucking up to our interviewees, but being the prospect dork that I am, I honestly love Future Redbirds. Very informative when it comes to Cardinal minor leaguers and the draft, and they do a great job with all that research and hard work that we are allergic to. Some blogs would resort to taking pictures of Jack Clark on their TV screen for a laugh; not these guys.

I threw some of my patented hard-hitting, deep-thinking questions at Erik, and he held his own. I've really been trying to find someone else to talk about my Alex Cole and Brian Barber memories, and I think I found "the one." They ought to make an eHarmony for dorky topics like that. Okay, no they shouldn't. Here's the interview. Enjoy!

1) Token first question: Why did you start blogging about Cardinals prospects?

I had blogged about the Cardinals before but I guess I just felt more like an echo and less of a voice. There are so many good Cardinal blogs out there like Viva El Birdos and Fungoes, and while I liked sharing my 2 cents, it just was hard to be original. I kinda felt like I was back in high school art class, and I'd be looking at my scribbles and feeling pretty good, only to see the person next to me have drawn the Mona Lisa. The Cardinal organization seemed to be wanting to build more from within, and it was something I wanted to learn more about. So I figured what the hey, why not learn more about the minors by blogging about it? No one else really was covering the farm a whole lot. And so Future Redbirds was born.

2) Another BertFlex writer and I did a live blog for this year's draft (even taking half days from work; very hardcore of us). We were shocked when Lance Lynn's name was called by the Cardinals instead of Tim Melville. Would you have taken Tim Melville there in the supplemental round (or 2nd, or 3rd) and paid him the bonus money he was looking for?

It's always fun to play with pretend money. I would've liked him in the later rounds but he still wanted top 15 round money and his lackluster results against high school competition is pretty alarming. Apparently he had hired a private pitching coach before the draft who messed up his delivery, so if I had enough faith in my coaches that they could fix him, than yes, I guess I might take a chance on him. But it's not a slam dunk decision.

3) Here's your chance to call out other members of your site: Who would be the best Major League GM of the five members of FR? Who would you put in charge of a draft?

To give the politically correct answer I think all of them would be a good GM, but if I had to pick one person it would be roarke. He's got a strong professional background that would help him, and I think he's a great listener, a good people person and an eager learner, so he'd be sure to hire people that would compliment his strengths and weaknesses. (Does it sound like I'd fix him up with my sister...if I had a sister?) I'd no doubt hire fewgoodcards to be over the draft, he has a handle on draft prospects better than any one of us. He participates in about every pre-draft mock up he can find on the web, and how he finds some of them is beyond me. In the few that I've seen, his pretend farm systems look a lot better than most teams real ones.

4) As a scrappy youngster, i was always rooting for guys like Craig Wilson and Alex Cole. Who was your favorite Cardinal prospect growing up?

I'm not sure exactly, though I always liked rooting for the guys with the funny names-Esix Snead, Basill Shabazz. I liked Dmitri Young but he reportedly didn't work hard and once punched a guy in the stands for heckling him while he was in the Texas League. Plus he went from being drafted as a shortstop, then moved to third, then left field and eventually first base because of his supreme love for Garlic Fries. And like I said, I love funny names, so it's hard not to root for a guy whose nickname is D'Meathook. He went from being a supreme athlete to D'Meathook in a Cardinal jersey, something I'm quite proud of.

5) Enough of the serious journalism questions. What was going through Brian Barber's mind when this photo was taken?

That's a great photo! I think Barber is imagining he is weightless, in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by tiny little seahorses.

6) What headline would you rather see in tomorrow's paper: "Drunken Rays GM deals Price, Longoria to Cards for Mulder, Reyes, and Cody McKay" or "Future Redbirds writer stranded on island with Johansson, Biel; urges you not to help." I'm ashamed to admit what my answer would be, how about you?

I'd rather have the Rays GM loses his mind headline. Helps me more in the long term as a fan, and as a family man I have a pretty nifty wife that keeps me happy at home, and would like to keep it that way.


Thanks again to Erik for helping us out!

Cardinal Blogger Appreciation Month: BugsAndCranks.com

It is week three of BAM! already, and we're going in a slightly different direction for our Cardinal Blogger this week: a female. Yes guys, women appear on sites not called YouPorn and RedTube, I know it's hard to believe.

This week's guest is Andrea Reiher, one of the Cardinal writers from BugsAndCranks.com, as well as Ladies..., and she even has a blog of her own. She's really working hard - we ought to try that some day.

What's the best part about Andrea? I like her sense of humor, I like her writing style, and I like any woman who's a Cardinal fan. But above all that, I'm very impressed with her undefeated record in bar fights (you'll read about this below). Now that's what I'm talking about!

When I emailed Andrea about doing this interview, I was fully confident that she wouldn't disappoint. I think you'll be pleased. Here is our email one-on-one with Lady Andrea:

1) Why did you start blogging about the Cardinals?

I started blogging about the Cards because Bugs & Cranks let me. I was brought in as a "Clubhouse" writer, which meant I didn't have a team and could write about anything. Recently the site has decided to have more than one writer per team, especially the big market teams, so I got to start officially covering Cardinals stuff. They're my team, so it's a fun thing to write about that I'm very interested in.

2) What are your other favorite sites or blogs?

I got my start in the world of sports blogs on Deadspin. There was a piece done in its first couple months of existence that was about Brady Quinn and it got forwarded to a bunch of my friends at Notre Dame law. I discovered it was a pretty cool site and it's been all downhill from there. As for other sports blogs, I enjoy a lot of different ones, but the ones I check regularly are Hugging Harold Reynolds, Viva El Birdos, and Cardinals Diaspora. The other stuff I generally just see when Deadspin links to it. Deadspin is really my home base of blogging.

As far as non-sporting blogs, I discovered Television Without Pity and Zap 2 It a couple years ago. They both have TV-related content, but TWoP is more heavily recaps of TV shows and Zap 2 It is more newsy, though there is overlap. Both are excellent. I recently started writing for Zap 2 It, actually, which is awesome. It's like suddenly if your favorite band asked you to tour with them. I really like it so far.

3) No one can accuse us of sexism - we have two females on staff (racism, yes...but no way in hell we're sexist!). Blogging, or blogging about the Cardinals at least, seems to be a male-dominated field. Do you ever feel like a tiny buoy of reason awash in a sea of testosterone and BBQ sauce?

I wouldn't say "buoy of reason" because men can be perfectly reasonable. It is male-dominated, but I've always gravitated towards having male friends and hanging out with guys more than girls, so it's not weird. It'd be cool to see more female bloggers, but I don't want them just for the sake of having them. They have to be good. Same goes for guys. There are good female writers and not-so-good female writers; there are good male writers and not-so-good male writers. It's just about quality writing, insight and content.

4) Where do you watch the Cardinals? Do you prefer to watch from a bar, the comforts of your living room, or are you a go-to-the-games kind of girl?

If I lived in St. Louis, I would attend as many games as I could afford. Last summer, when the Cardinals started heating up I just decided I was sick of watching games on TV, so I bought 1 ticket for each of a Saturday doubleheader and Sunday day game, hopped in the car at 6 am Saturday morning and drove from Grand Rapids, MI to St. Louis. I slept on the couch of a Deadspin commenter whom I had never met before and we went to the two Saturday games together. It was great.

Since I don't live in St. Louis, I try to watch as many games as I can on TV. I like going to a bar, so sometimes I'll do that even if I have to go alone, but it's also nice to stay at home and watch with my dad (he's a Cards fan too) and my mom hangs right in there, asking good questions and stuff (she's not quite as into baseball as we are).

Two summers ago I studied in London and I bought MLB.tv so I could watch games. With the time difference, I could go out on the town, drink a little, go to a club, whatever, and then come home to the dorm we were housed in and watch games at 2 am. It was awesome. I didn't get much sleep that summer.

5) I've heard many women say they despise the pink Cardinals shirts/jerseys because pink is not the team's color. Discuss.

I have no ill-will towards pink gear in general. My St. Louis hat, that I have just about worn out, is pink. It was a gift from my grandpa and I think he probably thought to himself, "Andrea likes the Cardinals and girls like pink, so this is perfect." It was a very sweet, grandpa-y thing to do.

It's annoying that marketing people think that that's the ONLY gear a female fan might want. It used to be I could either buy a men's red Cardinals shirt that looked like jammies, or a pink shirt that looked like it had been attacked by my elementary school art teacher and her Bedazzler (she really had one). I am finally starting to see women's apparel in team colors, which is nice.

I also don't think you can just assume pink apparel = no knowledge of the game. I know girls who like sports who also just really like pink girlie crap. I also know girls who wear the traditional apparel who don't know jack about the sport, so it just depends. I say wear what you like. And if you love sports, great. And if you don't, that's fine too. What I find more annoying than all those things is a girl who feigns sports interest/knowledge for attention. I quite enjoy exposing their ignorance.

6) A couple months ago for insideSTL.com I did a research project about how ladies love Yadier Molina. As a female, give us your take on the Cardinals catcher

I remember that piece, actually. I was in total agreement. The Cards shirt I am currently wearing is a Molina jersey shirt. First off, he has an adorable face. Secondly, I love the way he goofs around with Albert Pujols. It's almost like we've got this monster leader figure with Albert and then he's cutie smiley little brother. Thirdly, he's amazing at what he does. Catching is hard. I caught one game of softball my entire career and I think my left knee has yet to fully recover. Finally, catchers in general are the hottest baseball players (to me). The gear, the backwards hat, the eye black, taking a full-on charge at the plate, calling the game, keeping a pitcher out of his head, gunning someone down at 2nd base. It's a bad-ass position.

7) Hypothetical question: look deep into the future, say 2009. Human cloning has become legal, only on the condition that Mike Shannon is the only person who could be cloned. How do you think this would effect society, and what would we do with all those Shannon clones?

Not having lived in St. Louis, I don't actually have strong feelings for Mike Shannon one way or the other. I enjoy his speaking voice.

8) Because of our ultra-nerdness, we love anything related to baseball cards of the 80s and 90s, thus we appreciate your Flashback Humor articles. Are you teasing us with baseball cards you found on a Google image search, or were you a big collector back in the day? All your credibility is riding on this one question. No pressure.

You seriously like those posts? That's awesome! I dropped the ball last week because my cards got put away and I couldn't find them and then suddenly it was the weekend and I had to work. Anyway, I'll do two this week just for you guys! The cards are actually from 3 whole boxes of minor league cards that I found in an antique store last fall. They were completely unopened full boxes, one from 1988, one from 1992 and one from 1994 and I thought minor league cards are pretty unusual, so I bought all 3 boxes and just waded through them, picking out guys I recognized or whose name rang a vague bell.

Thanks to The Good Face for sending in Q's 9 and 10. Like I couldn't have come up with this...

9) Besides gross t-shirt jerseys, what do you look for in a male Cardinals fan?

Well, this is a good post about how to win me over. And to be honest, I look for the same thing in all guys, Cards fan or not. Someone who challenges my intellect and makes me laugh will get very far with me. I've even met guys who initially I wasn't attracted to, but they were smart and incredibly funny and I ended up really liked them. Sports knowledge and fandome is important, but it doesn't have to be my sports or my teams. He just needs to be able to understand my passion for sports.

Good manners are important, I get really upset with rudeness. Not just pleases and thank yous, but also calling me when you said you'd call or not talking down to me, especially in front of other people. I also don't like to play games. If you like me, tell me you like me and we'll hang out. No big deal. Witty banter is fun. Ability to quote Ghostbusters, Jaws and Top Gun is cool. Someone who would cuddle up and watch 6 straight hours of the West Wing or The Office is nice. Even more obscure pop culture references are a definite plus.

I also need a guy who can appreciate the arts. That can be hard to find in a big sports guy, but I really like to sing, act in plays and go to museums, and I would like to encourage my kids to participate in the arts. I can't have a guy who is super into sports and would be really mean and disappointed in his son if he wanted to, say, play the trumpet in marching band instead of play football. This is actually really important to me because there is nothing "wrong" with choosing one activity or another. Do what you enjoy, you know?

10) Do you think you could take Brad Thompson in a fight?

Absolutely. I've been in two bar fights and I won them both. Both guys bled from the nose and were kicked out of the bar. Brad Thompson doesn't seem particularly tough. Wainwright would be tough. He's got that long reach, like Lincoln.


Thanks again to Andrea for helping us out!

Cardinal Blogger Appreciation Month: Cardinal70.com

For week two of BAM!, we are talking to Daniel from C70 At the Bat. According to his bio, here is a little info:

I'm a long-time Cardinal fan who spends most of my Internet time at CardsClubhouse.com, where I'm the co-administrator and YNOT guru. I'm married with two kids and work as a CPA here in Arkansas. Grew up loving Ozzie, rooted for McGwire and now awed by Pujols.

It's just a regular joe blog. I root for the Cardinals and typically give them and management the benefit of the doubt. I'll criticize when necessary, but I'm not big on general bashing. So let's give it a shot, see what happens.

Once again, we dished out a gauntlet of hard-hitting questions about the Cardinals, the 80's, Nintendo, and other Cardinal blogs. Check out his site; lots of good thoughts and info on the Redbirds.

1) Why did you start blogging about the Cardinals? What are your other favorite sites or blogs?

I started a personal blog back in 2005. While it mainly dealt with pictures of the kids and my biweekly poker game, I'd sometimes talk Cardinals in it as well. Last year at the All-Star Break, I decided that the people checking that to see how big my son was getting and first pictures of my daughter really didn't care if I ranted about Kip Wells blowing another game. So I started a separate Cardinal blog and off we went.

Other favorite sites? Well, I have to mention CardsClubhouse, where I'm co-admin and YNOT gamemaster. Good forum for discussion with a decent mix of posters. Of course, I'm reading the big Cardinal blogs--Viva El Birdos, Future Redbirds, Bird Land--and like to check in on Deadspin and Fire Joe Morgan as well.

2) It says in your bio that you grew up watching Ozzie. What is your favorite team of the 80's?

I didn't actually get focused on following baseball until about 1987. I went to my first baseball game in 1984, but that was in old Tiger Stadium on vacation. I remember caring somewhat about the '85 Series, but it really wasn't until '87 that I really got into it. So, being that team was a World Series team, I'd go with that one.

3) Because of that, it's safe to assume you grew up on Nintendo. What's your favorite Nintendo baseball game?

Actually, I didn't. We had an old Atari console at the house and then moved to the Sega Genesis, but we never had a Nintendo. I never was a typical youth. :)

4) I read one of your articles from May about Cardinal t-shirt jerseys. What's the most random jersey (real or t-shirt) that you own?

I own one replica jersey (Pujols) and all the rest are basically T-shirts. The one that doesn't get a lot of wear nowadays is an old JD Drew one. I never really got on the "bash Drew" bandwagon, though I will say that the deal shipping him off was one of the best in Jocketty's tenure.

5) What is your favorite and least favorite thing about Cardinal fans?

The favorite thing has to be the passion and knowledge of the fans. Like Friday, when Edmonds came up for the first time and got a standing ovation, even in a Cubs jersey. Things like knowing that a ground ball advancing the runner can be just as valuable as an extra base hit and realizing great plays can happen to both teams.

The least favorite thing has to be the factions or negativity that can seep into the fanbase. There always seems to be a whipping boy, whether it is legitimate or not. Drew was that way, LaRussa had a lot of that before 2006, Duncan is now. The fanbase doesn't turn on people as quickly or as harshly as some do, but things tend to get exaggerated to the point that the player can hardly do anything right.

6) Put your GM hat on. It's early July and you're within shouting distance of the Cubs, and first in the Wild Card race. Are you making trades to go all-in to win in '08? Or sticking to the youth movement no matter what? What's your strategy for the rest of the season?

There's no way that you can go all-in on this season, I don't believe. By all-in, I'm talking moving top prospects like Rasmus, Garcia, Todd. These are players that St. Louis has to have in the next few years, to allow for greater payroll flexibility in the free agent market. That said, if a deal can be made using lower-tier prospects to shore up a spot like the left side of the bullpen, I think you have to make that kind of deal. If you can get a Bedard at some sort of discount price, obviously you go there. But on the whole, I wouldn't think we'll see much out of Mo at his first trading deadline.

7) We noticed the UCB box at the top of your site. What is the United Cardinal Bloggers, and would we have a shot to join if a) we still continue to post about our love for bacon and fried foods and b) we cut the one contributor who is a Cubs fan?

The United Cardinal Bloggers was something I came up last offseason. I thought it'd be great to have a running theme throughout blogs on the same day. We've done various things like filling out a Blogger Award ballot, selecting our choices for the top 5 stories in 2007, predicting 2008. The biggest project that we did, one that I'm extremely proud of, was a progressive game blog. For the Cards/Cubs game of May 3, each participating blog took an inning, described the action, and used that as a jumping off point for general discussion. It was like seeing the same game through many different viewpoints.

There's no membership test for the UCB--if you want to participate in one of our projects (we're starting to gear up for another one now)--you are more than welcome to. We'll even let you keep your Cub contributor.

Thanks again to Daniel for helping us out!

Cardinal Blogger Appreciation Month: CardinalsDiaspora.com

Today is the first edition of Cardinal Blogger Appreciation Month (BAM!), and we'd like to introduce you to athooks of cardinalsdiaspora.com. Recently we had a chance to speak to Mr. Hooks about the St. Louis Cardinals, hoping to start a new revolution of bloggers interviewing other bloggers. Buzz Bissinger is probably setting his internet on fire right now, out of protest. And as you can see, we posed for a group photo (although behind all those sunglasses, I can't really tell who's who; there's a more accurate picture of him by question one).

Besides Cardinals Diaspora, athooks is the Monday leadoff man on the STL Cardinals section of insideSTL. With a Monday/Tuesday one-two punch like us, I've heard some comparisons to Brady Anderson/Robbie Alomar circa 1996 (thanks mom). Reasonable people say it's pretty comparable to Lenny Dykstra/Mickey Morandini circa 1993...I don't know about the tobacco habits of Hooks, but I can't really argue with my half.

Below is our gauntlet of hard-hitting questions. The one thing that slipped my mind was some analysis on "The Streaker" story that he broke a few weeks ago. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check the full story here, and there should be more updates from him throughout the week. Enjoy.

1) How much time per day do you spend writing and doing research for Cardinals Diaspora (and other site(s) you write for)?

I've actually outsourced my research to an assistant- James Frey. He's been coming up with some incredible stuff lately, too. (Message to everybody: If you don't think I can cram a outdated literary reference into a sports blog interview, suck on that first line...)

Actually, I come from the Stephen A. Smith school of sports journalism- shoot first and ask questions later. I might pull an occasional Google search for a fact here or there, but for the most part it's pretty much lock and load with the bullshit. Luckily RVB [ryan vb], an esteemed statistician, covers my ass up with some great information. We tend to balance each other out.

2) A few of us here nerd out over prospects and the draft. Any draft thoughts? How confident are you in the improved minor league system?

They call it the minor leagues because you aren't good enough to be in the major leagues. Is it a necessary system to develop talent? Yes. Does it affect me or what I watch nightly in any way? Not so much. Ok, so I might occasionally check in on a prospect that's highly touted like Colby Rasmus, but for the most part- I don't care. 99% of the time a guy like, oh, Nick Stavinoah will tear up inferior minor league pitching, get a call up, and become less than average. And not to pick on Nick, he may become a contributor one day, but a majority of the guys that need to be in the bigs will be in the bigs. You can't send or keep them down.

I've always been a big supporter of trading potential for proven MLB talent. In most instances you are trading a very dicey commodity (talent) for something that's tangible (MLB stats). Teams like Tampa Bay spend decades stockpiling all these 'future stars', but as we've seen, it takes more than a little patience to create a winner. PS: they haven't even won anything yet.

I need the Cardinals to be the Cardinals. A contender. A legitimate threat to make the post-season. If we lose a Dan Haren every now and then to keep feeding the beast in St. Louis, then so be it. The Yankees, Sox and Cubs do it. Win now. Nothing's promised tomorrow. Aside: That wasn't necessarily a 'funny' answer to your question, but I do feel better.

3) We're also a fan of random jerseys. Do you own any gross jerseys (any player, any sport)?

1994 Team USA basketball jersey. #7 Shawn Kemp. It is THE pride and joy of my (limited) collection. Every time he has an illegitimate kid I wear it out to the bars and get housed. In a related story, I'm an alcoholic.



4) Why did you start blogging about the Cardinals? What are your other favorite sites or blogs?

I've always thought of the Cardinals being a conduit for my ramblings, not necessarily the be all end all of my writing. In other words, most of the people I interact with on a day to day basis usually mention the Cardinals and what's going on with the team, but it isn't the bulk of our conversation. I kind of think of Cardinals Diaspora in the same vein. I usually try to mention baseball on a daily basis, but if that turns into 3,000 words on why David Archuletta can lick my balls with his American Idol performance last night- then so be it. Baseball is great because there usually is something to talk about everyday, so it lends itself to blogging a bit more than other sports.

Great sites, in no particular order: JoeSportsFan.com, SportsPickle.com, Deadspin.com, WWTDD.com and JelloTime.com

5) Here's your chance to call out other members of your site: who is the best wiffleball player at CD?

Me. End of story.

6) Hypothetical question time: you're watching some Cardinals playoff baseball. Albert is up, bottom 9, bases loaded, down by one. The tv is in front of you, while a naked Jessica Alba (or naked Jessica Simpson, Scarlett Johansson, Taylor Swift [for you], etc - any famous young lady typically allergic to nudity) is standing exactly behind you. There are no mirror-type devices around and you have to pick one to look at (note: Joe Buck's mic broke and Tim McCarver has to do play-by-play, so if you turn around while still listening...you won't really be able to tell what happened). What do you do?

I throw a brick through the TV. And it's not because I'm any less of Cardinal fan. But the odds that I get a second shot with a neked female celebrity are far less than the odds of AP coming through in the playoffs. In the clutch. Again. Check that. I'm so confident Albert takes care of business that I don't even have to watch to know the Cardinals won, plus I had Taylor Swift naked in my house, making it the best day ever. We're all sure she's 18, right? Right?

7) What is your favorite and least favorite thing about Cardinal fans?

Cardinal fans are too damn polite. It's sounds pretty hack fan to say something like "Well if the guy is making millions of dollars and can't hit the dern ball…" but really- I kind of agree. Sometimes I just want to go to a baseball game and take my rage out on some of the lesser performing athletes on the team, but the 86-year-old nun keeping score and shushing me with silent guilt means I'll just have to hire another hooker. Damn you Sister. But seriously, we don't boo enough. Guys get real comfortable here and it breeds compliancy. On the other hand, people show up. Not many cities can have 12:30 Tuesday day games and pack the house. From coast to coast Cardinal Nation is represented. I like that.

8) My sources tell me they saw Mark Mulder checking out monster.com the other day. What field of work do you recommend for the left handed person ("pitcher" is no longer applicable)?

What's the easier joke here; slot machine (he knows all the arm positions) or big oil executive (boffo profits for little to no work while the average guy suffers)? It's a tough call, but I think I'm going off the job board and saying Mark Mulder would be an incredible gay porn actor. Especially if he goes back to the frosted tips. He's probably straight, but the life-sized cutout of him in front of Faces means he's got a ready-made audience, plus he's got great experience screwing average working guys like us that pay for tickets for nearly 3 years now!

9) Has there ever been a worse batting music/player pairing than Ludacris' #1 Spot and David Eckstein?

I'd love to say it's Albert Pujols' 'Piñata Party', a hot mess of horns and Mexican yelping that only he could get away with, but I'm afraid that might be misconstrued as latent racism. So I won't. The answer is obviously a tie between Tony Womack's use of 'Yeah!' by Usher (never once was that phrase spoken when Tony stepped in to bat) and 'Wanna Be Starting Something' for Brian Barton. You just can't have a white guy sheppard in our only black player, right?


Thanks to athooks for giving us his thoughts. If CD ever does any feature stories on bacon, I'm sure we'll be the first place they turn.

Earl Weaver Lays It Down

Once again ripping off my ideas from the good Sir, I hereby present "Manager's Corner with Earl Weaver." The next time someone tells you that the Cardinals should add some team speed, tell that douche that they should put this interview in their pipe and take it to the bank, baby.

Also, there's some excellent gardening advice. And the theme music gets me all tingly.

Bert Blyleven in ......... the GREATEST! INTERVIEW! EVAR!!!!!

Stop what you're doing right now and click this link: Answer Man: Bert Blyleven. Yes I know it's a Yahoo link and those usually suck. This one definitely does not. In fact, that's where this AWESOME picture of Bert came from. There are eight questions about Blyleven's flatulence in the interview. He also talks about dropping those F-bombs on live TV a few years back. I'm starting to think we might be honoring the wrong "Bert" here at Bert Flex. Discuss.

The Most Controversial Interview Ever

Earlier this week, espn.com’s Graham Bensinger sat down with Shaun Kennedy, one of the top contributors to bertflex.com. Kennedy, who rarely does interviews, was very willing to speak on a number of topics and be honest with his thoughts. Here is the complete interview with Mr. Kennedy:

Bensinger: Well we are here talking to Shaun Kennedy, writer for bertflex.com. Thanks Shaun for taking a moment to be here with us. First off, your site has been up and running in blog form since November. Looking back onto the first few months, what are your thoughts?

Kennedy: I’m pleased with what we are doing. I know we don’t have a huge following just yet. But we’ve got some things in the works and we’ll continue to get better every month that we keep this up.

GB: Recently on ESPN, Michael Irvin was quoted as saying that Tony Pellegrino has not done the best job running your site; that it takes a great leader and a great Webmaster to run a team like yours. He even went as far as saying that Brett Favre, if given the reigns, would be a better Webmaster than Pellegrino. Your thoughts?

SK: (without a pause) Yeah he’s right. Definitely. I mean Favre’s a winner. He’s been there before, holding up the trophy. He is a true leader. As we speak right now, I couldn’t see Pellegrino leading us to the promised land. He’s good…he’ll get us near the ‘next level.’ Brett Favre would seal the deal. I see nothing wrong with what Irvin said, and there’s no way I can be misquoted on that.

GB: Another contributor to the site, Justin Rohour (aka Big Sandwich), has made a lot of quality posts so far. You two seem to get along on the field, but rumors have been circulating that you do not approve of his off-field behavior. Please explain.

SK: Well Graham, I’ve been talking about his work on the River. As you should know, he is a disk jockey on that station. I turn that (expletive) on the other day and what is he playing? Nelly? Notorious B.I.G.? What’s going on with that?

GB: I really don’t understand…

SK: He’s a sellout. White DJ’s on the River are only supposed to play white music. There’s no way you can misquote me on that. S-E-L-L- OUT! That’s all there is to it. Matchbox 20 and Dido: Justin should know every word to their songs.

GB: Why is this such a problem to you Shaun?

SK: Because it’s the River, man. The River is supposed to be a vanilla radio station. That’s how God wanted it. And the River will be back some day! And it will be re-built! Vanilla!

GB: That’s an interesting thought. Moving on to the future of the site: are there any plans for money making opportunities, or will this remain an all-voluntary effort on your part?

SK: Graham, listen to me. I BETTER make some money on this thing. I’ve got a family to feed. I’ve got to get paid for all the time and energy I spend making this thing work. Entertaining the people. I’ve got to be able to feed my family.

GB: You have a marketing background, Shaun, what are your plans on promoting the site?

SK: I’d like to promote it by promoting how great I am.

GB: No one else would be involved?

SK: Well, yeah I’d involve everyone. We’ve got a great staff. Tony and Justin do a great job. Ann and York are solid contributors. Jeremy and Matt jump in there every once in a while. But Josh on the other hand…

GB: What about Josh Lohnes? Where has he been?

SK: Graham, I’m not one to comment on someone’s sexuality…but if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck…Josh Lohnes is gay. Seriously.

GB: Did you just say that? What does that have to do with anything?!

SK: You’re missing the big picture. Next question.

GB: Okay…do you have any thoughts on the upcoming Olympics?

SK: I really don’t know what the fuss is over Bode Miller. I can’t believe so many people care what he’s got to say. I mean, my friends get drunk and go skiing all the time. We’ve won World Series Championships on PlayStation drunk. Super Bowls, NCAA titles. Beaten Grand Theft Auto drunk. Played pool drunk. Played porch softball drunk. Bode Miller’s just a punk. He couldn’t hang with this crew.

GB: You’ve obviously known these guys since your college days. Describe what it was like being a star rec-sports athlete on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

SK: There's so many people gravitating to us kids. We may not have even known what we were getting into. They knock on the door; somebody may knock on the door; a cute girl knocks on the door. What do you do?…

GB: So you’re saying there’s no other options but to give into the female “groupies,” if you can call them that? And aren’t you afraid that the National Organization of Women will be offended by that?

SK: Yes, I am saying that. Unless you misquote me. And no I’m not afraid. You should apologize for asking such a ridiculous question.

GB: I’m sure you’ll be doing a lot of that real soon. Thanks for your time.

SK: Jap plays.



Thanks GB