It’s time for a few random notes from the weekend and a dip into the old mailbag. (Thanks to everyone for writing. You make it much easier to come up with great topics for these little rambles, or rumbles as they may be.)

Before I get to the email I will hit on a few general things I noticed or experienced. Mrs. Rog and I went to the Celtics/Clipper game last Thursday night at Staples Center. Let me just say that the Celtics suck right now, big time. They played a horrible game and still it took a last second shot for the Clips to win. It was the first time I have ever seen the Celts lose in person, ending a streak of seven wins in 4 different arenas over the years. What I want to talk about is Staples itself. We were in the lower level about 12 rows up and the seats were great. The problem is that unless you sit below the boxes at Staples, you are screwed. I’ve been in the upper deck and it totally sucks. I wonder if this is the norm with new arenas. I used to go to places the Forum or the SD Sports Arena and while it was no picnic to sit in nosebleeds, it wasn’t nearly as bad as Staples. Maybe three levels of luxury boxes wasn’t such a great idea? Not that Staples is bad mind you. It was a pretty nice experience actually. Clippers fans are pretty good, especially considering at least half of the crowd was dressed in green. There was one moment that made me laugh though. Some of the crowd started chanting “A-Rod, A-Rod” which I thought was both hilarious and ironic. Hilarious because what better way to get under the skin of a Boston fan than to bring A-Rod and the Yankees into the smack and ironic because we were in LA. There isn’t much smack for LA baseball fans to chant these days. I did think it was creative though. The near highlight of the night was the silent auction. At Mrs. Rog’s urging I placed a bit on a Celts signed team ball. We went back at half time to see that I had been outbid. Again, she reminded me that it was for charity and that I really hadn’t spent any money on myself in a while. (I’m saving it up for Teagan) So I placed a higher bid. As time wound down a man and his son stood in front of the sign up sheet and added a bid with thirty seconds to go. Though it was probably higher than I wanted to go, I tried to step in and give it one last shot. The guy pushed his kid in front of me so I couldn’t bid. I was totally floored, but let it go knowing that this A-hole and the prick-of-the-future he was raising had just given 150 more than they originally bid to a charity because of my bid. So it was basically a great night. I would just recommend that anyone who wants to actually see a game at Staples should pony up the extra bank and pay for some really good seats. They are worth it.

Speaking of good seats, I still haven’t seen where we will be sitting this year for the Angels. I’m betting 10 to 1 that they move us even further down the right field line this year. It’s true, a mini-season plan holder gets boned when the team signs a big named player or two. Somehow I knew I should have just thrown down the jack to get a full season. I probably could have sold the tickets we can’t use anyway right?

Since we’re on baseball for a minute, what about the A-Rod thing? It’s a great move for the Yankees right? It locks up the series for them right? Yes and no. It IS a great move because A-Rod is the best player in baseball. On the other hand it leaves plenty of questions. Can he play third base? Can he handle the pressure? Can that pitching staff stay healthy? How much with the Yankees miss Soriano’s speed? Are they now leveraged to the point where they can’t get someone else if they need an arm or a bat at the deadline? In the end it is going to come down to health. If the Yanks stay healthy, they will be in the post season for sure. Even if their pitching is horrible, they will win most games 10-9. Will that translate to a world title? Possibly. If it does, is that a bad thing for baseball? I don’t know. Some teams can afford to pay these salaries and some teams can’t. That’s the way it is. If that seems unfair, then someone should check the books to see who has won the last two titles? Not exactly the Yanks, Sox, Braves or Dodgers. Come on ya’ll it’s spring. For at least a month everyone still has a shot. That said, I wouldn’t cry too terribly if Gary Sheffield went into a funk now that he’s (Allegedly) off the juice or if Jeter and Kevin Brown get into a fight and break each other’s jaws. You know, just for fun.