Yanks Land Swisher

MLB Trade Rumors has all the stories compiled in one place. It looks like the deal is going to be Wilson Betemit, Jhonny Nunez and Jeff Marquez for and Kanakoea Texeira.

The best thing about this trade, as far as I'm concerned is that the Yanks didn't give up anything important. Marquez has a chance to be a back-of-the-rotation guy, Nunez is the guy the Yanks traded Alberto Gonzalez for at the deadline last year and Betemit is garbage. I hate every other aspect of the deal, especially the part where the Yanks pencil Swisher in as their starting first baseman.

Swisher walks. He walks a lot. That's pretty much the only good thing the guy does. He had 82 walks last year to get his OBP up to .332. Lovely. He can "play" 4 positions on the field, all the outfield positions and first base. He doesn't play any of them well. According to this, first base is the worst of his positions. Adding Swisher to the lineup in Giambi's slot basically amounts to equal walks and a precipitous drop off in every other statistical category, which is great for a team that struggled to score runs last season.

More good news, Swisher is under contract through 2011 ($20.3M total), with an option for 2012 ($10.25M). The salary is quite affordable if you're talking about an every day player. When you're talking about a .219 hitter who can't defend or a first baseman with a .742 OPS, well it may be a little over the top. It will be fun to see the bottom of the Yankee lineup with Swisher and Gardner, though. Two guys with great plate discipline who pitchers have no fear of facing.

If you can't tell, I hate this move. People will tell you the Yanks aren't done, but I disagree. I think this trade takes a run at Teixeira off the table. They now have their every day first baseman for 2009 (unless Posada can't catch, but if that happens there are larger issues to worry about). We're going to be forced to see Swisher, his miserable bat and his below-average glove on a daily basis.

If the choice was between a two-year deal for Giambi or a trade for Swisher, I'd take Giambi. No questions asked. Don't pat Brian Cashman on the back for buying low. All he did was get the ChiSox out from under a bad contract for a bad player. Congrats, Cashman, he's our problem now. Not the start to the offseason I was looking for.

Here's your Yankee lineup, at the moment:

1. Damon (LF)
2. Jeter (SS)
3. A-Rod (3B)
4. Posada (C)
5. Nady (RF)
6. Matsui (DH)
7. Cano (2B)
8. Swisher (1B)
9. Gardner (CF)

Inspiring, huh?

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Rick Fox, Deborah Norville, and Mark Cuban To Appear On Reality Game Shows

FOX’s reality game show hits Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader and Don’t Forget The Lyrics are continuing to feature celebrity guests. On this week’s Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, TV news reporter Deborah Norville and NBA champion Rick Fox compete for charity.

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader airs on Friday, Friday, November 14 from 8 PM to 9 PM ET/PT on FOX. Right after Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader, billionaire Mark Cuban makes a surprise guest appearance on Don’t Forget The Lyrics.

In addition to having a lot of money, Mark Cuban is also the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and appeared as a contestant on the fifth season of Dancing With The Stars. Don’t Forget The Lyrics airs on Friday, November 14 from 9 PM to 10 PM ET/PT on FOX.

For more Reality TV news visit SirLinksALot: Reality Television. Also, come join us on the new Reality TV Magazine message boards and talk about your favorite show!

Photo Credit: Patrick Wymore/FOX

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Related posts:

1. Dancing With The Stars - Mark Cuban Dresses Like A Hobo
2. Dancing With The Stars Results – Mark Cuban Eliminated
3. Mark Cuban Picks Cameron Mathison To Win Dancing With The Stars 5

StreamDesk Brings Web Streams to the Desktop

Windows/Mac OS X 10.5 only: Want live video streams to run in a dedicated window instead of a forgotten tab buried in your browser? StreamDesk brings a hand-picked selection of live video streams from sites like Ustream.tv, Justin.tv and Stickam directly to your desktop. For Mac, it requires OS X Leopard (version 10.5) and Flash 10. For Windows, it requires .NET 3.5 and Flash 10 — though the StreamDesk installer will helpfully download both for you. The content is currently tech-heavy, but you can request new feeds like the Shiba Inu from a form on the developer's site. StreamDesk is a free download for Windows and Mac OS X 10.5.

StreamDesk [via Download.com]

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Saturday Sports Betting Preview

College football hogs the sporting spotlight Saturday, with top-ranked Alabama looking to pound Mississippi State . Here's a look at all the action in your Daily Sports Roundup. The world's best professional bettors know that today is one of the strongest cards from the standpoint of the bettor. Keep in mind that GodsTips, already 4-0 in college basketball, has added a box of puppies to the hoop card since that report was filed.

The Gridiron Spotlight

The Crimson Tide (10-0, 7-3 ATS) remain atop the AP Poll and BCS rankings, and they'll be looking to stay ahead of idle Texas Tech this weekend by taking care of business against Mississippi State (5-4, 5-3 ATS). Alabama , a 22-point favorite on Saturday, beat 27-21 LSU last game. The Bulldogs are coming off a loss to Kentucky .

No. 3 Florida continues to climb the rankings, and they're pegged as 22.5-point favorites on Saturday against No. 24 South Carolina. No. 4 Texas is favored by 13.5 points in their game against Kansas , while No. 5 Oklahoma is also on a bye this week. As well, it's No. 6 USC (-24) vs. Stanford , Indiana vs. No. 7 Penn State (-35.5), No. 8 Utah (-30) vs. San Diego State , No. 9 Boise State (-36.5) vs. Idaho , and also No. 10 Ohio State (-9.5) vs. Illinois in what should be the closest game on the schedule for Top 10 teams.

Other Notable Events

LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers will play host to the Utah Jazz in one of eight games on the NBA's schedule for Saturday. The Cavs are coming off a 110-99 win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday which improved their record to 7-2 (6-3 ATS) on the year. James had 22 points to go along with 11 assists and eight boards that day.

The Boston Celtics are also in action on Saturday, as they'll play on the road in Milwaukee . As well, the Warriors and Clippers will meet in a 3:30pm ET matinee in Los Angeles . The rest of the NBA's Saturday schedule: New Jersey at Atlanta , Oklahoma City at Philly, Portland at Minnesota , Indiana at Chicago , and New Orleans at Houston .

The Rest of the Schedule

The slumping Stars will be looking to get back into the win column in NHL action on Saturday night - Dallas has been tagged with a loss in four of their five November games. The Stars will play in Phoenix on Saturday in one of 10 games on the league's schedule. Rounding out the slate: Boston at the Rangers, Toronto at Vancouver, Philly at Montreal, Washington at New Jersey, Ottawa at the Islanders, Buffalo at Pittsburgh, Columbus at Minnesota, Colorado at Edmonton, and finally Nashville at Los Angeles.

The Canadian Football League stages its last games before the Grey Cup on Saturday, with Edmonton at Montreal in the East Final, and British Columbia at Calgary in the West Final. The Alouettes are listed as 6-point home favorites in the first game, with the total at 56.5 points. The Stamps' line is the same - 6-point favorites with a total of 56.5.

Finally, there is plenty of college hoops on Saturday as teams start to get their schedules underway. Most notably, top-ranked North Carolina will play host to Pennsylvania on Saturday, while No. 10 Gonzaga will go up against Montana State-Billings. Neither of those early-season matchups are expected to be very competitive.

A Peek at the Future

Tony Romo will return to action for the Cowboys on Sunday, as they play in Washington as road favorites . . . the Titans will be looking to stay perfect on the season on Sunday when they take on the division-rival Jaguars; Tennessee is also a road favorite . . . Jimmie Johnson will be looking to wrap up the Sprint Cup Series championship on Sunday afternoon when NASCAR closes its season with the Ford 400 down in Florida.

Top Handicappers

We give credit where it is due and the Jim Feist Proline Free Pickphone internet show does have good gambling discussion. But was we listened while we worked today, we see they do have a west coast bias. Clearly the Las Vegas based handicappers know Pac 10, West Coast Conference and Big West teams.

That's the magic of MasterLockLine.com, which has the top plays from the top sports services in their highest ranked sports. They know there are regional specialists in handicapping. Mark the Shark is the best Las Vegas based handicapper. Leo Getz dominates the Big East and Atlantic 10. Bill Tanner is easily the top Big 10 betting expert and all are monitored by power of 620 sports services behind every selection.

OffshoreInsiders.com

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Multiple new fires in southern California

More fires have started in southern California and are being pushed by the Santa Ana winds. We will post maps of the fires as they are available.

"Freeway" fire near Corona and Yorba Linda

UPDATE @ 4:42 p.m. Saturday

Below is a map showing thermal imagery from a satellite. The red areas are the two fires west of Corona in the Yorba Linda, Brea, and Anaheim areas. The western most one is the Brea or Dump fire. The eastern most one is the Freeway fire. It appears that this imagery is from late this afternoon. The seems to have crossed the 57 freeway, and we already knew the Freeway fire was well established south of the 91.

Click on the map to see a larger version.


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UPDATE @ 2:27 p.m. Saturday

A 250-unit apartment complex south of the 91 freeway near Santa Ana Canyon Road and some single family dwellings in the same area are fully involved.

Here is an updated map that shows the approximate location of the Freeway fire west of Corona. Click on it to see a larger version.



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UPDATE @ 1:45 p.m. Saturday

The fire crossed the 91 freeway in two places and 3,100 homes in the Anaheim Hills area (south of 91 and west of 241) are under an evacuation order.


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11:40 a.m. Saturday

The DC-10 air tanker making a drop on the Freeway fire near Corona. It dropped continuously for 10 seconds, much longer than smaller air tankers. Oddly, there was a smaller twin-engine plane flying closely on the side of the DC-10, unlike lead planes which fly some distance ahead of air tankers.

Here is a map that shows the approximate location of the Freeway fire. Click on the map to see a larger version.



This fire, named Freeway, started late this morning and as of 11:40 a.m. PT has already burned 800-1,000 acres and has damaged or destroyed 12 homes. It is on the north side of the 91 freeway near Green River Road. It has burned into Yorba Linda where evacuations are in progress and some homes burned near Merryweather Circle.

An engine crew was burned over according to LA channel 7. Two firefighters have minor injuries and were treated at a hospital.

Fire in Brea

UPDATE @ 3:40 p.m. PT Saturday

The fire has burned quite a distance to the west and jumped the 57 freeway for a while but firefighters picked up that portion that crossed the freeway. A reporter from Fox 11 is at the fire edge on Wildcat Way just north of W. Lambert Road in Yorba Linda. HERE is a link to a map of that location.

Farther to the east at Hidden Hills Rd. and Greencrest Dr. many mega-mansions are burning to the ground. The situation is complicated by the fact that there is no water pressure at all in the water system. Firefighters are emptying the tanks in the engines, then leaving the area to get water, then returning again.

The director of the Yorba Linda Water District said that there are multiple pumping stations that pump water into some of the higher elevations that are burning now, and at least one of the pump stations burned. They are investigating the possibility of bringing in a pump to replace the one that burned. So... the fire suppression infrastructure works fine... until there is a fire. Just a idea: Make the pumping stations resistant to fire.

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11:40 a.m. Saturday

This is a new fire a mile or two or three west of the Freeway fire. It is smaller than the Freeway fire, but no additional information is available. It may have been a spot from the Freeway fire.
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TV Patrol: Saturday's Suck Again!

Like I've said before, the only good thing about Saturday, is it leads to Sunday. This schedule is almost too painful to write about, but I'll give it a try, just for you guys. My dedication & devotion to you, my readers, is so heartfelt & sincere, that I can't possible let you go, not even one day, without knowing what you could possibly be missing or avoiding tonight. It gives me great pain & even cramps, to write all this crappy, nonsensical, bullshit, scheduling down, but I'm going to jump right to it........

Well, at least there are sparkly balls.

Did any of you watch "a/k/a Tommy Chong" last night on ShowTime. I am outraged at the manipulation of the law to make an example of a man, that was doing no one any harm. The time, money, & manpower spent to bring this hardened criminal down is truly absurd in every sense of the word. If you haven't seen it, no matter what you think of Tommy Chong, find it and see what our government can do. It is being re-broadcast tonight on ShowTime2 at 7:30pm. We had better all be careful. It very well could happen to any one of us & that's what makes it so fucking scary!

Ok, on to the sorry drivel they are passing off as entertaining TV........

ABC: College Football for the evening. Check local listings for the college nearest you. 8pm.

CBS:" at 8pm. (movie) Vince Vaughn & Owen Wilson crash weddings. (duh!)
"48HRS. Mystery" at 10pm. (new) A woman is stabbed to death in her house. (just what I want to watch all alone on a Sat.nite)

NBC:
"Knight Rider" at 8pm. (repeat) This show gets great mileage. They air it every other day.
"The Office" at 9pm. (repeat) Another NBC frequent-flyer.
"Saturday Night Live" at 10pm. (repeat) Gimme a break!!! This show sucks ass so bad. When is it going to end. Pathetic pack of programmers at NBC haven't had an original thought in 20yrs.

FOX:
"Cops" at 8pm. (new) & again at 8:30pm. (repeat) At least the real people get to watch each other on TV.
"America's Most Wanted" at 9pm. (new)

APL:
"Dogs 101" at 8pm. (new) Showcasing the Bloodhound, Yorkies, Great Dane, ShihTzu, & Rhodesian Ridgeback.
"It's Me or the Dog" at 9pm. (new) That Victoria Stillwell looks like a dominatrix coming to the door.

CMT:
"Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling" at 8pm. (new) I'm loving this show. I think it's going to be Danny Bonaduce for the win.
"My Big Redneck Wedding" at 9pm. (new)
"Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making the Team" at 9:30pm. (new)

truTV: A marathon of "Forensic Files" starting at 8pm.
MTV: Three hours of "True Life" repeats, starting at 8pm.
DSC: "Man vs Wild" x 3, starting at 8pm.

E!: "Going Postal: 15 Most Shocking Acts of Violence" 8pm. Can't get anymore entertaining than this can ya? I might just go uptown and let loose on the locals after watching this & blame it on TV.

BBCA: "The Graham Norton Show" at 10pm. (new) Robin Williams is the guest. If you get this network, Graham is worth watching. He has the BEST talk show on TV. Always funny & outrageous.

Here's another interesting show to watch. The Gameshow Network has a new game for us to watch. It's "Think Like a Cat" with Chuck Woolery at 9:30pm. Contestants & their cats have to prove how well they know each other. Can you imagine!!! I'm tuning in. Maybe I'll become a contestant. I certainly have the qualifications for this show, with 15 cats of my own. I could win their $1 million prize.

HISTORY:
"Secrets of Body Launguage" at 8pm. They examine politicians to prove the bastards are all lying to us.

HBO has "Rick Gervais: Out of England.... The Stand-Up Special" at 9pm. He originally performed this in NYC at Madison Square Gardens in 2007.

That's it for TV's trash bin of a Saturday. Oh wait, we do have some movies tonight. Here we are.....

SciFi: "Sin City" at 9pm. (2005) This is a dark graphic movie with a trio of stories entwined into each other. I loved it's look & feel. This ones good. (not a family movie) Bruce Willis, Mickey Roarke, & Clive Owens.

A&E is paying homage to the late Michael Crichton with this two-part adaption of his novel "The Andromeda Strain" starting at 8pm with pt#1 & concluding with pt#2 at 10pm. Eric McCormack, Benjamin Pratt, & Andre Braugher. (2008)

AMC: "The Godfather" at 8pm. (1972) Marlon Brando
CINEMAX: "The Hollow Man" at 8pm. (2000) Kevin Bacon
ENCORE: "Jerry Maguire" at 8pm. (1996)
FX: "The Mummy Returns" at 8pm. (2001) Brendon Fraser

That's it guys. I love you all & it must show by going thru all this crap trying to find something for you to watch tonight.

My picks: "Think Like a Cat" & "The Graham Norton Show".

I sure hope you have a date or are at least out at the bars looking to hook up with someone. Good Luck & don't forget: "No Glove, No Love!"

love
chooch

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Freeway Complex (Corona Fire) Racing

The Freeway Complex, previously called the continues forging a path of destruction as it moves into Anaheim Hills. Again NBC4 Los Angeles has amazing coverage that you can follow live online.

The fire is moving faster than firefighters can chase it. Winds are predicted to abate throughout the afternoon. For firefighters and residents downstream it can't slow fast enough
So far dozens of homes have burned and more than 1,000 acres have been consumed.

Below is a Google map affected neighborhoods in Anaheim Hills. Channel 4 mentioned E.Serrano Road specifically.


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