Big Lead Sports Bar

6/25/2008

NEWS AND NOTES

--The Pirates shut up their critics for at least one night with a 12-5 triumph over the streaking New York Yankees. The major storylines included a crowd actually involved in the game; a 19-hit, 12-run outburst; an adequate six innings from Tom Gorzelanny (overlooking the five walks); and an 0-for-5 from A-Rod. From all accounts, it was a great night at the ballpark. We'll have more discussion on the Yankee series a little later.

--Our emailer attached this link and asked: Joe Girardi?

--Here's the Bob Smizik article on last night's game that Cecil from Cecil recommended.

--ESPN's DJ Gallo sent this one over:

"Ten years of Double-A baseball on a team that has been rebuilding the whole time and therefore SHOULD have been stocked with prospects and look at the voting options..."

--Our own A.J. had a complaint letter to American Airlines posted on The Consumerist.

--So Terry Bradshaw took steroids during the '70s. As we all know, he was not the only Steeler, nor the only NFL player, to do so. Does that change your view on his accomplishments at all?

--PacMan Jones changed his name...to Dig Dug Jones.

--Anyone else out there read Moneyball? If you did, you'll enjoy this "Where are they now" article on the prospects mentioned.

--Here's a great article on MLB beer prices. Boston is the highest, Philly is the lowest.

--Shaq's losing his sheriff's badge after that anti-Kobe rap.

--You think you have it bad filling up your Range Rover? NASA has to pay $2,197,000 each time to fill up the space shuttle.

--WTAE scored a Peabody Award for their story on loafing PennDOT employees.

--As emailer Steve points out, we lost the Stanley Cup, but we can boast the national marble champs in both the boys and girls divisions. In fact, since 2004, youngsters from Allegheny County have won SIX national championships. Penn State has their linebackers, Allegheny County has their mibsters.

--An Alabama linebacker was charged with selling cocaine and possessing Ecstasy. His name? Jimmy Johns. And no, to answer your next question, he does not make gourmet sandwiches in his spare time.


--Joe Sports Fan has the 7 most identifiable swings of the modern era. And if it's got the JSF name on it, you know it's good stuff.

Send your interesting links to mondesishouse@gmail.com for these fun little buffers between "real" posts.

6 comments:

bohica said...

AJ:

Excellent letter. Another airline I will never use.

It seems like Southwest is the way to go from now on. No baggage costs, friendly (albeit cheesy) CSR's and inflight staffs, and lowest prices.

If you can look past the nonsensical seating arrangements, which I can, they are the best.

Not sure if they run from the Burgh to Austin though.

As a public service to all...Do yourself a favor and never fly AirTran. I know down here they stop through Atlanta for all of their flights (including to Pittsburgh) and they just expect you as the consumer to deal with being stuck at the most absurd airport in the US, probably the world.

Anonymous said...

I'm almost in tears from reading A.J.'s letter - one of the funniest things I've ever read.

I work for the Game Commission, and we get tons of complaint letters (regarding a mulitude of topics), with so many grammatical and spelling errors, making the person sound like a total idiot. I always say that if you're going to complain about something, at least make the letter sound professional - and you definitely did that - so people might actually take your complaints seriously.

Anyways - hilarious read.

AJ said...

For the record, I typed that letter with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. Since AA had actually gotten me to and from my destination (after several hours of aggravation) I knew full well that they would offer me nothing in return. So I figured that writing a long winded complaint letter would at least waste somebody's time in the customer service department.

I've enjoyed reading the comments left by the readers of The Consumerist. They clearly do not get my shtick. I'm glad the Mondesi's readers have a sense of humor.

By the way, I eventually got a letter back from AA. Their response was almost as long and was not a form letter. However, they were careful not to appologize (that would be admitting fault) nor did they offer any kind of compensation. They simply explained how eather patterns effect flights and welcomed me to fly with them again in the future. Thanks... but no.

By the way, Northwest flies into Austin and offers great service. I highly recommend them.

HotDog_Zanzabar said...

They seemed overly "dickish" on The Consumerist. I've never been on that site before, are they that brutal to everyone?

Anonymous said...

AJ:

Peace be with you.

I've had the exact same experience in the last year on the following airlines:

Continental - Newark to Pittsburgh
JetBlue - Pittsburgh to JFK

In the Continental instance, I was told my flight was coming to Newark from Charleston, SC and that bad weather in Charleston was the reason for the delay. Same as you, a quick trip to weather.com showed 62 and clear in Charleston and when I showed that to the woman at the service desk, I was told that I had to leave or that they were calling the police.

I also got into it with JetBlue this past March. They cancelled my flight back to JFK via voicemail in the middle of the night blaming bad weather on what ended up being a clear day. I then had to fly Southwest to Philly and take Amtrak back to NYC. Of course, I got nothing in the way of retribution from JetBlue. Bastards. And I used to love that airline.

OK, I'm done. I could go on about this all day. That said, I'm on an AA flight from LaGuardia to Miami tomorrow night. Wish me luck.

As for the most identifiable swings article, how does Fred McGriff not make the list???

ManBearPig said...

Could there possibly be any other industry in existence that has done a worse job of taking care of their collective "customers" than airlines? They are all the absolute pits.

Oh yeah, take away our free cokes. That'll cover your fuel expense. What's next, pay toilets? Oops, I probably shouldn't have suggested that...

The whole experience has gone so far downhill that if I never had to fly again it wouldn't bother me. I feel truly sorry for people like A.J and Cecil that have to go through this crap constantly. This industry is an absolute disgrace to everything that represents the quality of an American business.