$100 Pirates tickets giveaway

So the ticket broker Coast to Coast Tickets has a Facebook page now, and they're looking to get people aware of it, so they're giving away a $100 gift card good towards anything on their site in a random drawing of their Facebook fans on May 4th. Should be enough for two Pirates tickets, for sure.

Right now, looks like there's only 81 fans total, making that a 1 in 81 shot if the drawing happened today (I'm sure there will be more when the drawing happens on May 4, but those are still pretty decent odds)!

The Coast to Coast Facebook page is here:

Coast to Coast Tickets on Facebook

and they're posting bonus entry codes on their Twitter account here:

Coast to Coast Tickets on Twitter

Wow! Singh and Patel are believed to be the first Indian pro baseball players. Know of any others?

Arrrggghh! Walk the plank if you forget to vote next Tuesday, November 4th.

Arrrgggh! Anybody else as excited as I am to see what Kerrigan brings onboard?

Off-Season Blues...I mean, Greens

It's sad when you go to the Pirates home page and this is the top story. They're putting in a new field surface. Last year they made changes to the PNC Park seating (information here), and now it's the grass. If you read the article, you can learn about every kind of grass it will contain and how it's a great pedigree. Choosing, not to mention growing, that stuff is one of those jobs you never, ever think about. Probably because it's really boring to think about.

I'd really rather leave the field as-is and work on developing the team, but I guess I'm not the one in charge. Oh well, at least they're recycling the old field grass to use around Pittsburgh. Can't get any greener than that.

Trying to find my mom a cool birthday gift, I ended up doing a search for Pittsburgh concert tickets and found out that Johnny Mathis is playing at Heinz Hall soon. I didn't even know that guy was still alive, but he sure can sing. There are so many celebrities like that out there, ones that you can't remember for sure if they're dead or alive. Then again, my brother even forgot that my grandma had passed away once, so I suppose it's not just a celebrity problem...

To All Star or Not to All Star?

The past couple of years it's been an easy decision about whether or not to buy MLB All Star Game tickets. 2007, San Francisco...way too far away. 2006, Pittsburgh...right here at home. No brainers.

But this year it's a tough call. With gas prices up, a 12+ hour round-trip to the Bronx is pushing it. It's close enough to be tempting but far enough to make me feel lazy. Maybe I'll just wait and see the final lineup.

Pain Pain, Go Away

It's bad enough to injure or re-injure yourself during a game you win, but poor Snell didn't even get the hero's glory for pushing through the pain yesterday. Ian, if it makes you feel any better, we all felt your pain during that crappy 6th inning. Hope you get that elbow under control soon!

Out with the old, in with the new

Well, they finally did it... Tracy's out, and Huntington's in. Also out are Brian Graham, Ed Creech and Jon Mercurio. Will it help? Only a new season will tell.

A fatigued what?

I know I've been quiet a while, but this cracked me up. So they're saying that Roger Clemens of the Yankees may be healthy enough to make his major-league debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates next weekend. Not in itself all that special, but it's his injury that had me cracking up. He's out due to -- get this -- a "fatigued groin."

I know a lot of guys who'd give their right arm to tell people their groin was getting enough use to be fatigued.

Ahem. Back to baseball.