Palm Readings

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Sat, 23 May 2009 13:36:00 +0000

I have started using Facebook and Twitter to do most of my blogging. I will still use this space for things that are too long for either of those. To find me there in those places, follow these links:

JP on Facebook

CollegeRPI.com on Facebook

CollegeBCS.com on Facebook

JP on Twitter

The websites do not have individual twitter accounts. I haven't decided whether I'll do that or not.

So, feel free to come and find me in those places.

Live blog from the Final Four

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:37:00 +0000

I will be live blogging from the Final Four in Detroit this weekend. I will also be filing daily updates on my travel page.

Hopefully, things go a little more smoothly than last year. At least this time, I'm driving.

Live Blog: Purdue @ Illinois

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 05:19:00 +0000

I will be in Champaign on Sunday, Feb. 8 at Noon CT to live blog the Purdue-Illinois game. You can follow along on the live blog page.

Live Blog: Georgetown @ Marquette

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 21:32:00 +0000

I'll be doing another live blog on Saturday, January 31st. This one is from Milwaukee, where Georgetown takes on Marquette at 1 PM CT.

Click here for the live blog page.

Live blog from Miami

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:04:00 +0000

I'll be live blogging the BCS title game tonight at http://www.collegebcs.com/bcstitle.html

You can also read about my time there on that page.

BCS Title Game Coverage

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:33:00 +0000

I'm in Miami covering the BCS title game. You can follow along at http://www.collegebcs.com/bcstitle.html

Move live blogging - Wooden Tradition

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:13:00 +0000

Blogging from the Duke-Purdue game was so much fun, that I'm taking the Ernie Banks attitude and playing two. Or blogging two, as it were.

I'll be at the Wooden Tradition on Saturday, December 20th blogging the double header that starts at 3 PM CT. The first game is Davidson and Purdue, followed by Southern Illinois and St. Mary's.

Click here for the live blog page.

What'd I do?

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 05:34:00 +0000

Texas fans have been taking my name in vain all week, but they aren't alone. Apparently, people are lining up all over to take shots at me.

I received a surprising phone call from a friend this morning to tell me that the folks on the ESPN Sports Reporters show took aim during some BCS discussion.

It was a typical BCS discussion, whining about the ratings, especially the computers, the lack of a playoff, and the system in general. Very low-level stuff. High on outrage, low on ideas.

At some point, Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News says, "How many of these computer geeks, who have so much power in this sport, are gonna let the numbers fall, and the season hangs in the balance for Texas and Oklahoma, it's not right."

John Saunders, the moderator of the group, then says, "Computers are only 1/3 of the equation...But what a lot of people have a beef with is the Harris Poll, where a gentleman by the name of Jerry Palm is on the list."

Lupica interjects, "who sits in his basement in (simultaneously with Bob Ryan) Indiana!"

I've never met Saunders or Lupica. I'm surprised they have even heard of me, let alone know where I live. Perhaps they are confusing me with Jeff Sagarin, who also lives in Indiana. I don't know what I did to float to the top of their minds, and especially to inspire such disdain.

To be clear, I am not a voter in the Harris poll. If nominated, I would not run. If elected, I would not serve.

And one more thing: I sit in my attic, not my basement.

Football Saturday Live Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 14:14:00 +0000

I decided that since I was going to be sitting around watching games all day, I should do a live blog. If you've ever been on one of my live blogs, it's like a souped-up chat session. It's easy for readers to participate, so I hope you will.

Click here for the blog page.

Live Blog from Duke @ Purdue

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:56:00 +0000

I will be live blogging from the Duke-Purdue ACC-Big Ten Challenge game at Mackey Arena on Tuesday night, December 2nd. The game starts at 8:00 PM CT, but I'll be on a little before then.

Click here for the blog page. You can go there before the game and set an e-mail reminder for yourself if you like.

The blogging program I use allows for things like reader input and polls, so we'll try to have fun with it. If it goes well, I may do some more games later in the season.

Very-bad-word next year!

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:36:00 +0000

All those white flags flying around the city with a big, blue "W" on them: that "W" stands for "WASTE!" What a very-bad-word waste this whole pointless very-bad-word season was! Why bother going through all that effort to make the very-bad-word playoffs when you're just going to very-bad-word choke again?! You can't very-bad-word hit, and you can't very-bad-word pitch, and you can't very-bad-word field with both hands around your very-bad-word necks! If baseball wanted teams that played like the Pittsburgh very-bad-word Pirates in the playoffs, they'd invite the Pittsburgh very-bad-word Pirates!

Here's what baseball should do. They should send the Cubs - the entire very-bad-word franchise - down to AAA and not let them come back until they win that league's championship.

No, I have a better idea. Let the Cubs play the first two months of the season. Then, make them stop and play in the College World Series. Then, if they win that - which they won't because it's against the very-bad-word law for them to win anything with the name "World very-bad-word Series" in it, including the very-bad-word Little League World Series - they come back to the major leagues and try to get into those playoffs. If they don't, they pack up and go home so they don't waste another entire very-bad-word year.

This year's Cubs' playoff MVPs are: Henry Blanco, Bobby Howry, Reed Johnson and Ted Lilly. Why? Because they never got into a very-bad-word game. Can't very-bad-word up on the very-bad-word bench.

I have another use for all those very-bad-word "W" flags. Wipe.

Very-bad-word! Very-bad-word! Very-bad-word! Extremely-bad-word!

There. I feel better now.

Wipe-on-a-Stick

Pitching follies

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 20:10:00 +0000

The Cubs gagged away home field advantage last night because Ryan Dempster was left in the game two batters too long.

Mishandling the pitchers was a problem (though by no means the only one) last year as well. In game 1 last year, he took out Carlos Zambrano, who was doing great, too early to save him for a game that never came. Then, in the next two games, he failed to realize his starter had nothing and left them in too long.

Same thing yesterday. Dempster never had control. He threw 109 pitches, but only 57 strikes (I can't believe it was that many), and walked seven. Three of them scored on a grand slam in the fifth. That was one of those rare strikes.

And that's the problem. By the fifth, he had so little control, I was afraid he would throw a strike. Because if you're wild out of the strike zone, you could be wild in the zone and leave a pitch fat. That's what happened, and it was game over.

But it wasn't just the walks that was indicative of a problem, it was all the guys who didn't walk that he got behind. It was how badly he was missing the target.

Entering the fifth, the pitch count was around 80. He struggled to get the pitcher Lowe and walked Furcal on five pitches. At this point, the bullpen should be working and the pitching coach should be on the mound, but that didn't happen. He gets Martin to fly out on a 3-1 pitch, but when he walks Manny after having him 0-2, it was time to call it a night. Unfortunately, he stayed in for two more batters and threw one strike too many.

Hopefully, if Zambrano is going good tonight, Piniella lets him keep going. The Cubs have to treat this as a must win though. If it's bad Carlos tonight, he needs to have a quick hook. There is no point in making the trip to LA if they lose tonight.

The Sox, on the other hand, made the shocking decision to start Javier Vasquez today against Tampa. Vasquez is not a big-game pitcher. At all. By any measure. So, either the Sox are conceding, or they must feel they can outscore whatever he gives up.

Win or stay home

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:17:00 +0000

The White Sox spent the last week of the regular season trying their hardest to blow the Central Division, but they failed because Minnesota couldn't do much with the lowly Kansas City Royals.

So, the Sox had to make up a game with the Detroit Tigers yesterday that had been rained out in August. Then, they had to sit through a three-hour rain delay to get it started. They did win though, thanks to a grand slam from Alexei Ramirez.

I was listening to Detroit implode in the sixth inning on the radio on my way home, and as they were pitching to Junior, one of the radio guys (I forget if it was Ed Farmer or Steve Stone) says, "if they walk him, that will bring up our Ramirez, who is our slam guy." They did walk him as I was pulling in my driveway, and by the time I got in the house, it was 6-2 Sox.

Ramirez, a rookie, now has four grand slams on the season.

That had to be one of the worst-pitched innings in the history of baseball. Four guys walked. The first one walked, stole second and scored on two wild pitches before the second batter was finished walking. Then a third guy walked. There was another wild pitch, an intentional walk, and then the grand slam. Actually, I think Thome struck out in there somewhere as well. Four walks and three wild pitches leading up to the slam.

Now, the Twins come to town for a division tiebreaker tonight. The Sox are pitching John Danks on three days rest, but you can't blame them. Gavin Floyd pitched yesterday, Mark Bueherle on Sunday, so there really isn't anybody left. Javier Vasquez probably wouldn't get out of the first inning.

Minnesota counters with Nick Blackburn. The Sox have lit him up this year, although Blackburn did better the last time he faced the Sox, holding them to two runs in five innings and getting the win last week.

The prize for the winner? A trip to Tampa to face the Rays on Thursday.

Cubs win.

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:45:00 +0000

Note that the headline was punctuated with a period, not an exclamation point. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited that the Cubs won the division, but I've seen that before. What I've only seen one time is the Cubs winning a playoff series. And it goes without saying that I've never seen them in a World Series.

If all that happens this season is winning the division, then it's a team that fell short again.

Now, our attention turns to the Sox, who can wrap up the division in a 3-game series with the Twins in the Humpdome. The Sox magic number is five with six to play. Both Chicago teams in the playoffs at the same time? That's something I've never seen before! I don't think my stomach could take a cross-town World Series.

At least they finally got a hit

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:22:00 +0000

I don't know if it's the effects of being dislocated by a hurricane, or playing "neutral" games in front of a big Cub crowd at Wrigley North in Milwaukee, or if it's simply a case of a team this hot finally cooling off, but the Astros set a standard for futility in their two games against the Cubs this week.

The first 47 hitters they sent to the plate in Milwaukee failed to get a hit. Carlos Zambrano faced 28 in his no-hitter on Sunday, and Ted Lilly got into the 7th inning before finally giving up a hit to Mark Loretta.

That was it. One hit in two days. The Astros were outscored 11-1 in the series. They finally scored in the 8th of game two with two walks, a wild pitch and a sac fly. Even Bob Howry, the designated lead blower this season, couldn't give up a run.

The Cubs are the first team to ever put a no-hitter and a one-hitter back-to-back.

Meanwhile, in a very strange twist to the playoff chase, the Brewers fired manager Ned Yost today. Milwaukee is tied for the wild card lead entering the day, and although they have faded a bit in their chase of the Cubs, I can't remember a manager ever being fired in the middle of a playoff race like this. The Brewers have lost seven of their last eight, and collapsed in the second half of last season as well. Perhaps this is just a desperate attempt to shake things up.

Dale Sveum will take over for the remainder of the season. The Brewers are in Chicago for three beginning tomorrow.

Cubs and Astros move to Milwaukee

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:04:00 +0000

Because of hurricane Ike, the Cubs and Astros will now play two games in Milwaukee. They were supposed to play three in Houston this weekend, but obviously, nobody's playing anything down there right now.

It's ironic that the games are in Milwaukee. If you are a Brewers fan, who do you root for? Your team is chasing the Cubs for the division title, although it's slipping away. The Cubs' lead is up to 6 games and their magic number for clinching the division is 10.

Houston, meanwhile, is on your heels in the wild card race. Philadelphia is a greater concern at the moment because they are the current opponent and only two games back after beating the Brewers last night, but Houston is 2.5 games back.

So, do you want the Cubs to help watch your back in the wild card race, or do you want to hold out those fading hopes for a division title?

Oregon-Purdue live blog

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 19:26:00 +0000

While the Cubs continue their 1969 impression and slide deeply into oblivion (although they have won one game in a row!), I'm going to hide my head in the sand on Saturday and live blog the Oregon-Purdue game.

To follow along, click here.

A game not even a mother could love

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:31:00 +0000

The Marlins and Braves played a game on Wednesday afternoon in Miami in front of a measly 600 fans. 600 fans! There had to be more staff there than paying customers. Every fan probably had his/her own personal beer vendor.

The actual announced attendance was much higher, but the heat, humidity, and lack of meaning kept the fans away in droves.

Here is the game story off the wire.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out, Jay

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:27:00 +0000

Acerbic columnist Jay Mariotti abruptly quit the Chicago Sun Times on Monday after returning from Beijing. Just last summer, he signed a big contract extension to stay at the Sun Times, but after covering the Olympics, he decided newspapers are dinosaurs and to try to find his way on the web.

You can tell from this piece in today's S-T that he's missed by almost no one. I haven't read him for years, for many of the reasons detailed in the piece, so I don't miss him either.

OIympic undies in a bunch

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 19:20:00 +0000

At the Olympics, the coach of the New Zealand men's field hockey team (I didn't know men played field hockey) was ejected from a game because his team's underwear was the wrong color.

As my hero, Dave Barry, likes to say, I am not making this up.

I'm sure NBC will be all over this story in prime time tonight.

Bears pick Orton, ND moves back to Indiana

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 04:28:00 +0000

The Bears finally cut the cord with Rex Grossman and turned the offense over to former Boiler Kyle Orton. After watching the game with Seattle the other day, Rex better stay ready. There's a good chance Orton is going to get creamed.

The offensieve line couldn't block anything and wouldn't recognize a blitz in a police lineup. If that doesn't get fixed, the QB won't matter.

In other Chicago news, the Tribune has finally recognized that Notre Dame is in Indiana. Last week, I wrote about how their list of athletes with "Illinois connections" included someone whose only connection was that she attended ND. It took them a week, but she finally dropped off the list.

Athletic, yes, but not a sport

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:32:00 +0000

I've always felt that one of the definitions of a sport is something where you can tell who won. Gymnastics and figure skating, which rely on judges to tell you who won, are more like athletic pageants than sports. Diving fits into that as well.

We saw another example again tonight. Nastia Liukin of the US appeared to have done a little better than He Kexin of China, but the judges ruled them tied, and He won on a tiebreaker. Another Chinese gymnast finished third, but she might have been better than the other two. Who can tell? Certainly not me, and even the announcers (who have a huge US bias to be sure) struggled with it.

He, who was below the minimum age required to compete in the Olympics before she miraculously produced a passport that said otherwise, had a worse low score that counted than Liukin did. That was the tiebreaker.

Another US-China matchup was pretty spirited as well. Today's 9-1 win for the US baseball team over China got a little intense. Five, or perhaps six (news reports conflicted), US batters were hit by pitches. Two US runners collided with Chinese catchers. One of those catchers, Wang Wei, got knocked out of the game in the 5th. Backup Yang Yang got steamrolled in the sixth, which made China's manager, Jim Lefebvre (the former Cubs manager) pretty irate. He argued the US runner's play was unnecessary and that he should have been kicked out of the game. Lefebvre was launched instead. The first batter for the US in the next inning, Matt LaPorta, was beaned and knocked out of the game. Maybe the next one too. That got the Chinese pitcher tossed along with backup manager Steve Ontiveros (the former MLB pitcher, not the former Cubs 3B).

The final act of sportsmanship came when Yang yanged one over the left field fence in the 9th for the only Chinese run. He ran the bases with his arm in the air in celebration like he hit a 10-run homer.

In the bigs, the next guy goes down and pretty much everyone in uniform gets ejected. Here, the teams just shook hands after the game.

Gotta love the Olympic spirit!

The University of Chicago at South Bend

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:23:00 +0000

One of my pet peeves about the Chicago Tribune sports section, and Chicago sports media in general, is that they treat the University of Notre Dame like it's the University of Chicago at South Bend. I understand that the school has a large fan base here, but I have always thought that it is a bit silly for the Irish to get better coverage than the University of Illinois. But, they do.

South Bend, by the way, is halfway to Ohio from Chicago. Milwaukee is closer to downtown Chicago than South Bend.

The most recent (and blatant) example of the geographic confusion is in the agate type on the Olympics page. There, you'll find a list of three dozen athletes with Illinois connections. There are people who grew up in Illinois, went to college in Illinois, or play professionally here. They might not even represent the US in the games, like Andres Nocioni of the Bulls, who plays for Argentina, but they all have a connection to the state, except one.

Near the bottom of the list is women's sabre gold medalist Mariel Zagunis. Her "Illinois" connection - she attended Notre Dame.

Favre and other frustrations

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:20:00 +0000

The Brett Favre Saga goes on unabated. The Packers have done everything they can to make Brett feel unwelcome ever since he suggested he might unretire, but Brett didn't take the hint until yesterday. Now, he says, "they don't want me back." Duh.

I can't think of any similar case where a legendary player for a team was so actively shunned. Maybe Bobby Hull with the Blackhawks back in the day.

It's probably just as well he's gone, although as a Bears fan, any distraction for the Packers is fine with me. I'm not as convinced as others that having Favre back makes the Packers better. Not if there's that much bad blood between him and the coaching staff.

A lot of folks around here would like to see Favre join the Bears, but that'll never happen. The Packers still own his rights, and there's no way they'll let him stay in the division. The Vikings would also love to have him and have made no secret about it, but once again, same division. Now, it looks like he'll be traded to Tampa for a bag of chips and a case of beer.

Kyle Orton gets to start tomorrow night's game with the Cheifs. It looks like the QB derby will be decided after the second exhibition game (which Grossman will start). It would be a shame if Grossman ends up the starter. We've already seen what he can do. Or, more accurately, can't do.

The Bears have reportedly told season ticket holders that they will not be allowed to tailgate once the game begins. I guess a fair number of people just sit at their cars and watch the games on TV outside the stadium. What's the point of that? Wouldn't it be a lot easier to do that at home?

Our area got pounded with storms the other night, leaving a lot of damage. My house was spared, but the nearby town of Griffith, IN, got hit with a tornado, leaving a lot of destruction in its wake. You can see some of the pics here.

My DSL service is out for a few days, which is making things difficult for me. Right now, I'm getting some online time at a McDonald's, where a little girl is entertaining the crowd with a rousing version of the "I just farted" song, much to her parents dismay. Could be worse, though. Could be March, when a DSL problem would have me moving out. Also, I could be sitting closer to the little girl.

At least I have power. I live on a small street and usually if one of us has a power outage, we all do. Right now though, our house is the only one powered up on our side of the street. Very strange. Also, we're the only ones who didn't get water, thanks to a battery backup sump pump. Best investment I ever made.

Catching up

noreply@blogger.com (Jerry P. Palm) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:52:00 +0000

A lot has gone on since I last wrote:

I saw The Dark Knight. It was fantastic. I don't know that I have much to add beyond what most of the reviewers have already said. Heath Ledger stole the show and the story was great. If I have any complaint, it's that it gets a little speechy at times (is "speechy" a word?). It's pretty cool, as a Chicagoan, to see the way the city is used in this movie.

The Cubs keep rolling. They went up to Milwaukee and kicked the Brewers back to the Cardinals in the standings. The team didn't make any trade deadline moves, but their big trade came earlier in July when they picked up Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin, both of whom have done quite well, despite Gaudin blowing a lead yesterday. Jeff Samardzija, the former all-American WR at Notre Dame, was called up to fill Kerry Wood's spot on the roster and has done a pretty credible job as well. He's got nasty stuff, and once he nails down his control, he'll be a quality starter. That is, if they don't make a closer out of him. Rooting for ND guys is hard for me, but I guess I'll just have to get used to it.

I had another garage sale. This one didn't go as well as the first because the main road near my house is under construction, which kept down drive-by traffic. I may do one more, or I may not.

I signed up to coach soccer again this fall, but for the second season in a row, I didn't get a team. I'm starting to take this personally.

I have also been working on getting CollegeBCS.com going for the new season, so if you are a subscriber, you can find my bowl projections and commentary on the initial coaches' poll.

I also joined up with Facebook and LinkedIn. Links to my pages on those sites are on the right side of the page.