2007- The Year in Pictures

Here's a little slice of the year that was 2007- enjoy! Make sure you have your speakers on so you can hear the accompanying music...

Baseball's (2nd) Darkest Day

The first darkest, of course, being the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. But today's announcement of 76 steroids users by the Mitchell Report was a damn close second. This day has been a long time coming. Whispers of steroids use began in 1988, were ignored for 15 years by everyone in the game, and now everyone is to blame. But as much as I, and millions of others, had heard rumors of names bandied about, today's list made it real. There were many "fringe" no-name players, a couple that I had even forgotten about. But it's the big names that really make you sick. MVPs (Miguel Tejada). Postseason MVPs (Andy Pettite). The greatest pitcher since World War II and 7-time Cy Young winners (Roger Clemens). Big Head (Barry Bonds). And my worst fear, two of my favorite all-time Dodgers (Eric Gagne and Paul LoDuca). And this is only the tip of the iceberg. This information basically came from two people! How many hundreds more know something that will eventually come to light?

So many records are tainted, wins, home runs and strikeouts alike. So many awards given to people who did not deserve them. How do you feel if you're a clean player who finished second to one of these chumps? NINE members of the "World Champ" 2000 Yankees were in this report- that's over ONE THIRD of their roster! How many teams won championships they did not rightfully earn? I am starting to feel that ALL records should be wiped clean from the books from 1994-2003. That may be the only way to put the real records back to their rightful owners.

Finally!

It appears that my next destination in baseball will be with the Wilmington Blue Rocks. By driving to Wilmington yesterday for a second interview, and adding another 120 miles to the already-driven 1700 to go to Nashville, I sealed the deal. I will be (once again) be in an almost no-pay position, working as Assistant Director of Merchandise, but how sweet it is. What a long 3 months it has been, waiting and wondering if I was going to find anything in baseball again. Hopefully, this will lead to a long and fruitful career with the Blue Rocks. Now, let's score some runs!

A special shout-out to those of you (and you know who you are) who have truly had my back and given me encouragement and words of hope these last three months. It has been a very difficult time both financially and emotionally, and once again, the people that I can always count on have been there. A Christmas miracle indeed.

Notes From Nashville

Boy, what a wild and crazy week it has been. Never before in my life have 2 sides of my brain been in such conflict. Remember the old Frosted Mini Wheat commercials? Well, the adult in me and the baseball fan in me definitely conflicted in Nashville:



I spent alot of money that I didn't have, and drove 13 hours and 900 miles to Nashville to find a job in baseball. The Job Fair was pretty much a complete joke. Trying to find a team hiring close to where we moved was supposed to be fairly easy; instead, of the 8 jobs that I applied for, 5 of them never even scheduled interviews with anyone! And it wasn't just me, as most of the 450 job seekers that were there were as completely frustrated and baffled as I was. It's not all bad news, as of the 2 interviews I had, I got a second interview scheduled with Wilmington next week, albeit for another barely-paying job as I had with the P-Nats. One more job fair in Philly in a couple weeks, so we'll see what happens...

As for the baseball fan in me, it was a virtual nirvana. There were dozens of baseball players, managers, and TV personalities roaming the same hallway as the Winter Meetings were taking place as well. The two biggest thrills for me was bumping into Tommy Lasorda my first day there, and then seeing and nodding to Cal Ripken as he walked into the hotel bar. Also got to watch live broadcasts of ESPN, XM and MLB.TV, as well as the live announcement of the Vets' Committee on who they are sending into the Hall of Fame. So it wasn't a complete loss, but when you spend money you don't have to further your career, the adult in you invariably wins out.

Some pics from my adventure. Jerome Bettis. Wrong sport, but I'm not gonna tell him:



Cal Ripken:



Former Dodgers GM Fred Claire interviewing Astros manager Cecil Cooper. This also was a big thrill for me, as he is the architect of the last Dodgers Championship in 1988, unfortunately he came and went so quickly that I didn't get a chance to speak with him:



Ravech, Kurkjian and Gammons live on Baseball Tonight:

Sheryl's New Video!

My girl Sheryl Crow's awesome new song & video, "Shine Over Babylon." It should give you even more respect for her talents. Enjoy:

How Bout Them Cowboys!!

The Dallas Football Cowboys looked great tonight as they beat the Packers 37-27in a battle of the best 2 teams in the NFC. All the great things that happened in a game half of the country (including myself) could not see because of the damn cable company:

- Tony Romo threw for 4 TD's, giving him 33 on the year, breaking the Cowboys all-time Season TD record. With names like Aikman, Staubach, and Meredith in our history, that's pretty damn impressive. He's also dating Jessica Simpson, which justifies my man-crush on Romo even more.

- The Cowboys ran their record to 11-1, the best in their history. They also pulled 2 games ahead of the Packers for home-field advantage in the playoffs.

- The Cowboys clinched a playoff spot, and depending on what the Giants do on Sunday, may have clinched the division.

I've gotta say, I am starting to believe just a little bit in this team. It's been a long 12 years since any of my teams did anything, so my skepticism is justified. But with 4 weeks left in the regular season, it's starting to look like this team can do some very special things.

A New Kenney Thanksgiving

Staci & I hosted our first holiday dinner as a married couple on Thursday for Thanksgiving. All of the family was here, except for Colleen & Hillary (we missed you guys!), as well as our extended family of Mari, Ian & Sharon. It was a full house, to be sure, but alot of fun. The turkey came out great, and Staci's chocolate pie was a hit, as usual! And we got to watch my Cowboys go 10-1 for the first time in their history. A day to be thankful for, to be sure.

Thankful For...

One of my favorite holidays has always been Thanksgiving, mostly for the tasty dinner and Dallas Cowboys football. One of the things we would do as kids would be to make a list, half serious and half funny, of things we were thankful for. I've decided to revive that for this edition of BK's Blog. I am thankful for:

- Staci's & my first Thanksgiving as a married couple;
- The first Thanksgiving since 1998 I will be with Mary, and the 1st since 1992 that I will be with Dad;
- The 9-1 (hopefully) Super Bowl-bound Cowboys;
- The great friends that I have, who lift me up in tough times;
- Barry "Big Head" Bonds being indicted on perjury, ensuring that his cheating ass will never play baseball again;
- Being able to listen to all the great Christmas songs starting on Friday;
- A great job in baseball (oops, maybe I can be thankful for that at Christmas);
- A new hometown that I actually like, away from traffic and knock-in-blocs;


Hope everyone has a great Turkey Day, and go Cowboys!

Ian's Birthday Celebration At PSU

Ian's birthday was last week, and the gang headed where we have 4 out of the last 5 years- to Penn State! A good time was had by all, as we wandered to old favorite places, and some interesting new ones as well. And aside from HORRIBLE service at our regular haunt, Ye Olde College Diner, everything was great. And we even found laughs in that situation as well!



It was good to see friends we hadn't seen in a while, and as the week of "Thanks" begins, you have to be thankful spending good times with people you care deeply about.

Dodgers: A New Hope?

The official introduction of new Dodgers, and former Yankees, manager Joe Torre took place yesterday. As deep as my hatred for the Yankees runs, I am actually pleased with this move. In a Yankee team full of classless individuals, Joe was always the epitome of class. And I never have a problem with a smart and proven manager/coach coming over from a hated rival and making my team better (see Bill Parcells).

Having said all of that, I still need to see if Joe can actually do what the last 6 Dodgers managers could not- bring home the World Series title to L.A. After years of suffering, this is the best news we have gotten in awhile.